Are parrots able to remember sounds better than us?/Observational skills

Hi. I've got a green cheek and a Linnie. I've noticed something peculiar about both of them though.

First, with my green cheek (Charlie) every time I take him out to play, he is able to simultaneously say the phrase "step up" with me without fail. Like i could have him on me for either 5 minutes or 15. But the moment I move my lips to say "step up," h says it at the same time as me every time, and not after I say it.

My Linnie doesn't imitate me, rather he imitates videos. Whenever I start a certain video, he'll hear the static and know which one it is immediately.

I mean maybe I'm just an idiot who doesn't pay attention to small details but I always thought it was interesting. Anyone else have a story like this?

Scooter the CAG likes to imitate things that beep. She can do precise imitations of the cordless telephone's beep and the higher-pitched beep of the remote control for the apartment's air conditioner. When she sees that I've picked up one or the other, Scooter will do the correct beep before either device makes a sound.

Ralph the QP's favorite song is Ring-a-Ding-Ding by Frank Sinatra. He only needs to hear the first notes of the instrumental lead-in and he gets excited and squawks for me to sing along with Sinatra.

So, both parrots here can recognize and remember certain sounds too.

Though I've not read any comparative studies on this, it wouldn't surprise me. Parrots, like all birds , need to recognize mates out of a flock of like individuals. I know visually parrots have the edge on humans since they can see colors into higher and lower frequencies of the spectrum (ultraviolet and infrared). LOL,imagine how your freshly laundered shirt,washed with chemicals that 'brighten'up colors, looks to your parrot. Maybe some of these tales of parrots suddenly doing a 180 on their favorite person was merely because they changed laundry detergent.

They are without doubt observant.
My CAG is always paying attention whenever anyone goes into the kitchen.
If we open the microwave oven door she starts beeping like the microwave.
When we open the refrigerator door (which is out of her line of sight) she will make the noise of a soda can opining.
When I tell her I am going to work she makes the squeak of the front door opening/closing.

those are just a couple of things that come to mind, I'm sure there are more.

As creatures of prey, their lives depend on keen observation powers. I'd imagine a hand-fed tame parrot raised in captivity has all of the capabilities of a wild cousin, but becomes conditioned to lower their guard.

I have two wild-caught Goffins, and the female is as tame and almost as trusting as her hand-raised offspring. Don't know how old she was when captured; big difference between a chick vs mature adult.

I never realised parrots have a greater spectrum of vision than us, wow....

As for observation, im sure they pick up on every single detail and mannerisms we display. For instance Enzo knows i'm going to go out minutes before I tell her, im for ever losing my keys/wallet (its a bloke thing) and if Enzo sees me looking around in the kitchen she will start saying 'Bye!' to me. So yeah, she picks up on everything.

As for remembering sounds, i'm not sure about that but they can certainly mimic sounds far more accurately and with a massively increased vocal range, we sometimes sit and mimic each other and she will often start doing sounds that she knows I cant reproduce in a sort of competitive way.

texsize said:

They are without doubt observant.
My CAG is always paying attention whenever anyone goes into the kitchen.
If we open the microwave oven door she starts beeping like the microwave.
When we open the refrigerator door (which is out of her line of sight) she will make the noise of a soda can opining.
When I tell her I am going to work she makes the squeak of the front door opening/closing.

those are just a couple of things that come to mind, I'm sure there are more.

Click to expand...

Seriously?? A SODA CAN mimic?? That’s a new one I’ve not heard before and flipping hilarious!

Bella just said the funniest thing ever.

Luna my GCA gets carried away when she is playing with her toys. Sometimes she has such a big fight she falls down.
Well she just had that happen and Bella says "your a silly bird".

When Luna starts creaming Bella now tells her "sshhhhh" .

My cag seems to know when I burp and does it at the same time which is cool as I can blame her

To back you up on the observation thing, Clark says regularly:
come on
come here
I love you
kissy or (gimme kissy)
Kiss kiss kiss (sound)
watcha doin'
an assortment of grunts that imitate me. the vocal range actually ranges from grr i'm mad to chirpy chirp grr i'm in charge.

He also doesn't mimic but understands "go poop" as I say over a sink or toilet, time for seepy, or "go seepy," ("sleepy", baby birdy talk)

Sure it's a limited vocabulary, but the amazing thing is it's not "parroting" he uses the words in context and understands their meaning. Kind of like a dog I had new the words "outside, come, treat" etc.

I never taught "step up" I used "come on" I got him before I joined on here but it's the same thing.


A typical scenario he will want to go down to the man cave and say come on, I'll pick him up and say come on, he repeats come on then I repeat come on, then he says come o....you get the idea.

My bird doesn't imitate sounds but he is a pretty reliable oven timer. He typically goes off no more than a minute before the actual timer does He's also helpful when you have a soup, beans/grains or mashed potatoes on the stove and will let you know when those are ready too!