Making bird noises back to birds

[ame="https://youtu.be/NOzoIbDj3XM"]Tig Notaro Cat Story - YouTube[/ame]

The link is a comedy bit about it (except it's with with cats), but my question is serious:

Is it wrong to make bird noises back to your bird, when you really dont know what
youre saying to them?

Mimicking them, or making your own bird songs (whistles or chirping) to sing to them?

Because really, Im not sure what they are really saying...other than the loud barks they do, to call to the wild birds outsid.

Im not exactly sure what they are always trying to convey or are expressing. A contented chirp sounds like just that, etc. But they have a range of different kinds.

Sometimes the male will just bust out with a long song in the p.m. that sounds oddly like the one Ive been singing to them.
Lately Ive noticed that they are making a weird low vibrating bark sometimes, and I wonder if they are mimicking the dog?

Also, do not laugh, but how do i know when Im interrupting them ? Like what if the male is trying to woo the female, and I keep butting in with my song? Isnt that sending them mixed signals?

Im ignorant of birdtiquette

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
I'd say... go for it. See what happens. You can always address/correct any boo-boos you make. I mimic some of the Rb's noises (to the extent that I can!) and it's fun. He mimics ME. Turn-about is fair play!

Cool avatar! Birds ARE the new dinosaurs.

Birdtiquette! hahahahahah

Welcome. I'm glad you're here.

We could never mimic Saltys natural voice back to him. Most sound like he is talking gibbersh backward through a kazoo. Oh, he talks in one of our voices just fine, and we talk back to him But my throat hurts just thinking of trying to mimic his natural calls. If you can hit the pitch of your Bourkes, I say heck yeah have a whole conversation wuth them.Whos'e checking ?

I mimmic my birds big time - it starts right when they come in and are adjusting to sounds they hear in my house. It's only fair to learn theirs as well.
(execept the possible swearing)
My version of the beakgrind always gets to them - its a very bad immitation, but they always 'get it' and it helps them to relax.
(After they've looked at me funny of course.)

The birds outside can react strongly - especially if you pick the "my tree, my tree" and "my nest, my nest" sounds. But they are used to dealing with a little competition, they'll live

Well, the thing is, for a scenario where you mimic a bird's sound and they understand what you're saying, on their language, and you're accidentally saying something wrong... That would mean they have an insanely intelligent set language that we could potentially learn and understand and intelligently communicate with them through - have actual conversations and discussions with a bird that they would understand and be able to answer.

I get that this wasn't what you were suggesting, but, that's practically how it would have to be!

They don't *communicate* with vocalizations only. They don't have a particular chirp that means a particular thing - they communicate with their body language as well as general vocalization to accompany and accentuate said body language!
If you mimic their sounds while calm, happy and non-threatening, that's lovely! Though you likely aren't able to replicate any of their sounds fully so they won't recognize it as a conspecific sound and it'll have about the same effect as just using human sounds or words But if you like chirping back at them, then do so!

My JoJo and I always mimic back and forth!

Flboy said:

My JoJo and I always mimic back and forth!

Click to expand...

Me too, but something's off because I seem to be imitating my bird a whole lot in this game, not the other way. Well, actually, we imitate each other, but we could go for 10-15 minutes.

At least one of our birds barks when the dogs do.

I scare my house mates with the odd conversations Charlie and I have. They can be quite serious conversations too. No joke
If I am not in the room and he wants to know where i am he will usually do a sonar beep a couple of times. Sounds like the find my iPhone noise. If i reply by copying him he squeals in delight if i make a different sound he will growls like the grudge..

I don’t know what i am saying but Charlie seems to have fun.

I whistle in response to Berry all the time. She is very attached to me so when I leave the room for a bit she calls for me. Most of the time, I whistle back to let her know I'm okay. lol

I play a game of morse code with my sun conure, Boomer. He will do kissy sounds in random patterns and I'll do kissy sounds back in the same pattern. The patterns are usually made up of 8-10 kissy sounds punctuated with pauses in varying lengths. If I execute a morse code flawlessly, I get a cute little 'wark!' from him in approval. He then starts with another pattern, either the same or a slightly different version.

Sometimes instead of waiting till he's finished with a pattern, I will do a synced morse code with him. This is harder because instead of parroting my parrot (lol), I will do an impromptu duet by guessing when a pause will take place, how long and how many kissies he makes. He seems to like it when I sync perfectly because he will give a wark! sound. It's not as advanced as it may seem on my description. He will do the morse codes regardless, I simply react to them. He does understand it's a game because he will keep going for longer if I respond back. If I don't throw back a pattern, he gets bored quicker and stops early.

So to answer your question, depending on the vocalization, I think it's a very healthy activity! Birds like to do things with their flock mates. Making sounds together is one of them

Mitchan said:

Well, the thing is, for a scenario where you mimic a bird's sound and they understand what you're saying, on their language, and you're accidentally saying something wrong... That would mean they have an insanely intelligent set language that we could potentially learn and understand and intelligently communicate with them through - have actual conversations and discussions with a bird that they would understand and be able to answer.

I get that this wasn't what you were suggesting, but, that's practically how it would have to be!

They don't *communicate* with vocalizations only. They don't have a particular chirp that means a particular thing - they communicate with their body language as well as general vocalization to accompany and accentuate said body language!
If you mimic their sounds while calm, happy and non-threatening, that's lovely! Though you likely aren't able to replicate any of their sounds fully so they won't recognize it as a conspecific sound and it'll have about the same effect as just using human sounds or words But if you like chirping back at them, then do so!

Click to expand...

https://www.zmescience.com/science/biology/babbler-bird-speech-07012015/

So does any one have any pet babbler birds? ;p

Humans relay mostly on body language and tone to convey meaning too. I think I already do know how to communicate , in a crude way, with my dog. For example, I know what he means , by different barks/body language, for some things. I can tell when he's barked after a stranger vs someone 's voice he might know ( eg, a neighbor). I know his playful growls from his serious ones. I even can tell between the playful noises, he makes, eg when he's being silly and when he's being serious. I know that if i through in a different noise that Ive heard him make before, it means, Im playing with you but pretending to be a puppy. Etc I think thats normal, if you can match their noises and body language up to a context over time, and youre not projecting your own human ideas onto their behavior, then youre most likely reading them and communicating with them correctly.

I can tell when the birds are calling out to the wild birds outside. I can tell when theyve used a bark on me. But I cant really understand their singing. I guess Ill notice it over time, but now I cant distinguish just by sound usually when one of them is calling to the other one, or trying to get my attention. Since theyre Bourkes and not an engaging parrot, it seems like they can do without my attention.

My male though, seems to warm up to me a lot quicker and more often then the female. Ill sing to him , and he'll pretty immediately blink his eyes and shut them, and ruffle his little chin feathers, grind his beak, or stretch, etc. ..while she just stares at me, silently; judging me, lol ;p

She's gotten better, though. She does blink and c0ck her head at me and close her eyes at me, more often now. She seems to enjoy my singing to them too.

But nothing like him. That made me wonder, does she think Im competition for the male? If he sings long songs back to me, mimicking my songs to him , back at me, is he doing it just for fun, or does he think Im romantically interested in him, because I sing so much?
Does he think Im leading him on? :24:

Ok; more serious question: do all parrots love it when you sing human songs to them? Im a first time bird adopter, and I dont have a pretty singing voice, but my birds seem to like it when i sing any old human song to them.

When we got Sunny home we sang a lot of rather bawdy songs in the car- she was on the back seat in a bench (the only place she would fit) and she went from semi-panic to almost sleeping, so relaxed...
so we found out she really likes it.


The greys respond to whistling more than singing...


My experience:
it is very posible to teach every bird some things-


I once had/fed a half-fledged blackbird ( who decided begging from humans was easier than learning to feed himself, so he let himself in the kitchen etc.) that I did a special whistle to- to let him know 'dinner was served, come and get it'.
It sounds ridiculous, but that was wat happenend: he invited himself in ... some birds have all the nerve!
Anyway- he grew up to be a nice big blackbirdboy and I heard "his" whistle come back for many years in his song!
It did not carry over to the next generations (kids yes, grandkids no), so now I don't hear it anymore (we had a ton of blackbirds dying -> usutu-virus the last few years, so they are pretty much decimated or worse right now).

The Bourke's dont seem to differentiate between a good song and a bad song, they just seem to love it when you sing to them. They do show a slight preference for overwrought ballads, though.
I have noticed in the past that dogs seem to favor country songs. I think its because of the fiddles and all the whining.