Blue Front and changing voice?

[Boki]

I have a rescued male Blue Front (Mac) whose original owner was a bird hoarder keeping something like 20 birds in his house even though the he was in a wheel chair and on oxygen. So I imagine Mac was never given any personal attention of any kind not to mention trying to talk. He went from there to a rescue center and then to my house with a very domesticated Double Yellow (Marcy) who got a lot of attention and speaks pretty well but limited vocabulary.

Over time it has been clear that since they moved to their new home, Marcy is trying to work with Mac on his talking ability. And Mac is trying. So today for the first time in 6 months, I hear this growling sound coming from Mac. Let me be clear, this is not a sound that is consistent with him being angry. He gives me plenty of anger stares, fans the tail feathers, lunges, text book anger signs. He was growling while not paying attention to me. It is like this is new for him and he is trying to work with his ability to make different sounds.

I was wondering if anyone here can tell me their experiences with an Amazon trying to learn to talk later in life? Both birds are estimated to be 25 years old. I will say that Mac is trying hard to adjust to his new human flock and Marcy is helping him.

I also wonder what a growling sound might mean if not associated with a display of anger? Maybe he is just working on voice? He is definitely making more and more new sounds each week.

 

[goodfellowsheryl]

That is wonderful. I'm wondering if he's working on his new sounds and will say a few words. I'll be waiting for more news.

Sent from my LG-V533 using Tapatalk

 

[ChristaNL]

Not sure about amazons, but every bird that came here tried to adjust his/her vocabulary to what is "spoken" here.
I think for them it is really like moving to another country and do their best to learn the langauge there.

So if the growling does not come from discomfort (bellyache etc. or being territorail or broody) - and I trust your observations on that one... he might be trying to settle in.

 

[Laurasea]

Boki thank you for Rescuing this pair!! It's neat when they start opening up! Can't wait to hear more stories, abd pictures

 

[Anita1250]

My 35 year old BFA sits on his playtop and growls all the time. It is sort of a low, soft growl. He will do it for a long time, while grinding his beak. It seems to me that it is a sign of contentment with Sam. I wonder if Mac is starting to feel welcome and happy in his new home, and that is the reason. Whatever it is, it is all good. Congratulations on taking in this new bird. I hope you have a long and happy life together!

 

[Kiwibird]

Our rescue BFA has not learned any new words with us (in the last 10 years) but does often seem to try to talk and kind of babbles like a baby instead. You can tell he's trying because his eyes go crazy but I think if a bird was not a talker before it's pretty much impossible for them to become one after puberty. Also, not all parrots are talkers, even ones bought as a newly weaned baby and given love and attention all their lives. I don't think anyone really knows why some individuals can have huge vocabularies and others appear to be incapable of mimicking human words at all.

Please let us know though if your first amazon teaches the second one to talk as an older bird. That would be most interesting if an older bird could learn from another bird.

 

[SailBoat]

My 35 year old BFA sits on his playtop and growls all the time. It is sort of a low, soft growl. He will do it for a long time, while grinding his beak. It seems to me that it is a sign of contentment with Sam. I wonder if Mac is starting to feel welcome and happy in his new home, and that is the reason. Whatever it is, it is all good. Congratulations on taking in this new bird. I hope you have a long and happy life together!

As commented on above, our DYH Amazon has a very soft growl sound that is sometimes tied to a beak grinding when he is very relaxed (chilled). He also uses it as a quiet contact call in the evening or at night. We response back with the same, very soft growl sound and it had built into a quiet back and forth. We Humans greatly underestimate the number of different contact calls our Amazons are making. There is a huge World that we are missing out on that our Amazons are watching.

 

[texsize]

My Bingo makes a soft eeerrrrr sound that you might call a growl.
makes this noise as he is going to sleep . eerrr-----eeerrrrr.
as said above we will return the noise until he falls asleep .


texsize

 

[Boki]

I do think the growling sound is one of contentment as that fits the situation. I find it being a "new" sound for him to be interesting. It is clear that Marcy is trying to teach Mac as he tries to follow her sounds and pitches in their practice sessions. Mac also garbles more and more as I get close to him.