Overhumanizing parrot behavior

That is awesome!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Anansi, I showed my husband and after watching Jolly he said, “yea, he paid extra for a smart one.” Hahaha 😂

Anansi said:

IndySE said:

...Right now we're working on recognizing and retrieving colored circles -- I haven't seen if anyone has succeeded in that kind of work with them (and can find, sadly, very little research in mapping out their intelligence/perception compared to more classic examples like cockatoos or greys), but certainly enjoy finding out...

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I've posted these before, but it's been a while and as you've asked specifically about birds retrieving colored circles... take a peek.

[ame="https://youtu.be/nzu8ant7KR8"]https://youtu.be/nzu8ant7KR8[/ame]

[ame="https://youtu.be/htMxgQtYk3Q"]https://youtu.be/htMxgQtYk3Q[/ame]

This was when we were only working on 2 colors. Jolly is now able to discern between 3: red, blue and yellow. Maya is not quite as interested in the rings game, so she is still working on 2.

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Wow thank you for sharing ! I just played the ring game again with Kermit tonight after taking such a long break. She really loves tearing them off their stand, but doesn't like putting them away. Sounds like a kid to me. I hope she doesn't take notes from Maya haha.

Laurasea said:

Amazing!!!

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Thank you! I'm really proud of my "Eclectic Duo".

Tami2 said:

That is awesome!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Anansi, I showed my husband and after watching Jolly he said, “yea, he paid extra for a smart one.” Hahaha 😂

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Thanks, Tami!

Hahahaha! Yeah, Jolly is really special. I truly lucked out with him. (Now if only I could get them to pick up the bomb whistle sound in a week like a certain other brainiac bird on this forum...)

IndySE said:

Wow thank you for sharing ! I just played the ring game again with Kermit tonight after taking such a long break. She really loves tearing them off their stand, but doesn't like putting them away. Sounds like a kid to me. I hope she doesn't take notes from Maya haha.

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You're welcome!

I've focused on the fetching aspect of the ring game exclusively this far, so I haven't tried having them stack onto the posts, yet. I think I'll start working on that one soon, though.

I'm really looking forward to seeing video of Kermit doing her thing with the rings once she gets them down. And I'll make sure to tell Maya not to corrupt Kermit with her mischievous ways. Lol!

Anansi said:

Tami2 said:

That is awesome!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Anansi, I showed my husband and after watching Jolly he said, “yea, he paid extra for a smart one.” Hahaha 😂

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Thanks, Tami!

Hahahaha! Yeah, Jolly is really special. I truly lucked out with him. (Now if only I could get them to pick up the bomb whistle sound in a week like a certain other brainiac bird on this forum...)

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Haha 😁 touché.

They are both gorgeous, you are amazing with them. 👍🏻

I bought Levi that same ring game. All he wants to do is chew them up.
Oh well. 😒

I’ve got a cockatiel called Kiko. He was all the time with me, and when I was getting ill or I was feeling bad because if something he would come next to me and touch me with his legs. Sometimes when I feel sick I go to my bed, so he was coming after me and sleeping next to my face.
I don’t call it humanizing but I think he knew I was ill [emoji4]


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Tami2 said:

Haha 😁 touché.

They are both gorgeous, you are amazing with them. 👍🏻

I bought Levi that same ring game. All he wants to do is chew them up.
Oh well. 😒

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Thank you, Tami! Levi's beautiful plumage speaks volumes about his level of care as well! (And with those ultra HD, molecular level clarity photos that you take, I'm pretty sure we'd see if even a feather was out of place. Lol!)

As for the rings, his desire to chew them up is a good thing! Keep letting him do so, but keep your hand underneath waiting for the inevitable moment that he gets bored and drops it. Once it hits your hand, use whatever word you want to charge as the command (I use "fetch" with Jolly and Maya), make a big deal about him being a good boy, and then give him his favorite treat. Once he makes the connection, it's on!

jousze said:

I’ve got a cockatiel called Kiko. He was all the time with me, and when I was getting ill or I was feeling bad because if something he would come next to me and touch me with his legs. Sometimes when I feel sick I go to my bed, so he was coming after me and sleeping next to my face.
I don’t call it humanizing but I think he knew I was ill [emoji4]

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Oh, I don't doubt at all that they often sense when something is wrong and try to comfort us. Remember, birds communicate primarily through body language. So they can "read" us to a degree far beyond that of which we are capable. (Which is why so many people get bitten seemingly for "no reason". Birds take for granted that we can read their body language the way they read ours. So by the time they bite, they're likely wondering why the heck we kept ignoring the 15 other "obvious" warnings they gave beforehand. Lol)

So Kiko "reading" you and understanding that you were unwell makes perfect sense to me.

noodles123 said:

...So, on the day of the break-up talk, I had been texting my ex to confirm that he would be coming to chat after he was done with work. My bird did not hear him or know he was coming because there were no actual phone conversations. Within the 5-10 minutes prior to his arrival, my bird (sitting on my arm) looked me in the eye and began to repeatedly say, "I love you". Now, she knows this phrase, but she doesn't say it often at all, and she only says it to people she really likes (and she has to have known them for awhile). I had heard it from her 1 time in the past 2 months, but on that day, she said it 7 + times IN A ROW, just minutes before I was about to have a really really sad conversation...and I wasn't acting sad at the time either.

...It's just crazy because my bird generally is very ego-centric, but always smart, and I have no idea how she knew to say that phrase repeatedly when I needed to hear it (normally, it is all about her, but this was a HUGE deal in my life)...Anyway, she hasn't said it since, and it isn't like my heart-rate was higher than it was days prior when I was crying all over the place and getting no reaction. I don't think I am projecting. I think parrots are VERY human at times.

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Same thing here. I think that she read your language, and has likely observed that the phrase, "I love you" is often used to address that particular behavior. It's doubtful that she understood the exact context of your distress (assuming so would be the humanizing aspect), but I do feel she knew full well that something was going on to cause you pain... and that she gave what comfort she could by following an example that she had seen work before.

I agree completely Anansi-

I just cant get over the fact that, compared to days past, I was at my calmest point when she said it (even though it was most important for me to hear at that time). If she were trying to comfort be based on observable behavior, I would have anticipated that happening following my crying/wallowing etc days prior (but it didn't- she kind of ignored that).

It is crazy that she said it (over and over) 5 minutes before the talk, despite my composure...My heart rate and everything was calmer, so who knows what vibe she picked up on...it was very weirdly intuitive (to the point that I wondered of some ghost relative was in the background bribing her with ghost peanuts lol). 500% sure that if I swapped her out for a close family member and placed them in the room, that they wouldn't have known that I was worried/upset in that moment. Assuming she doesn't understand "break-ups", it's weird that she knew when to say it, and I really can't explain it, but I do not believe that she has these deep philosophical understandings of love lol. I just can't believe how well she knows to use it in context, and I don't know HOW she knew to say it then as opposed to times when I was in blatant distress ha! Smart...Very strange....

Yep. To another person - even a close family member - your body language cues might have gone unnoticed, but it was likely clear as day to her. Birds really are amazing, aren't they?

yup
They most definitely are.

For those of you asking, this is Kermit's take on the ring game.... she disapproves.
This was post-training session (I'm not so coordinated/organized yet to take video during sessions, so I just taped her with the stand afterwards) and we're still working on identifying color and removing from the stand (she likes to throw them more than give them). As you can tell, we started with the red ones... She's a bit frustrated with the whole concept and I'm still working on finding a way to explain clearly what I want -- it's a work in progress. Still, her tauntrum is pretty cute !

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnKxkVfKnw4&feature=youtu.be"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnKxkVfKnw4&feature=youtu.be[/ame]

super cute!

Hahahahaha! I love it! I see her potential, though. She's going to work it out soon enough.