I think Foggy is learning to say good night!

[Altum]

So we have had Foggy almost six months now, and he has never been much of a talker... he does say "Up up," which is what we use to get him to step up, but he doesn't seem to have a grasp on the specifics of what it means, just that it means we get to hang out. He repeats it a lot when he is out.

He has developed some other specific calls, particularly whistling as his "call to flock" when we are out of sight or leaving. I started whistling back when he would caw at us, since I can't make that sound, and he picked up the whistling noise and sent it back. It's a part of his routine now.

When we go to bed at night, I always tell him "good night" as I switch off each of the lights, so he isn't too startled and so he has time to get in his sleeping position. But lately he has started to do a sort of drawn-out two-beat strangled/croaky noise as soon as I closed the bedroom door. We added a little nightlight for him, and it seemed like he calmed down sooner but he would still do it--I close the door, he screeches, I open the door and say "good night" one more time, and then he usually settles down.

Last night, though, when I was doing that he did it again as I was shutting the door, and I could hear more clearly... it sounded (to my wishful ears, anyway) like a "Goo Niiii!" When I thought about it, I realized his "final squawk" has always had a similar cadence to our "Good nights," and it is a sort of strangled gravelly voice he never uses for anything else....

My girlfriend didn't hear it last night, but she's heard all the past squawks, and she thinks it's wishful thinking on my part... I feel silly for being so excited and I don't there's anyone else who would get it so I had to make a post...

 

[Allee]

Yayyy Foggy! Nice choice for first words! Most parrots sound awkward at first but Foggy will get it right, he's still practicing.

 

[JellyBean]

So sweet - On Christmas Eve JellyBean - who was then 9 months old said "JellyBean" to me - I was so excited, his FIRST word - running to my husband - saying JellyBean said "JellyBean" He the did say it quite a lot over the holidays - but was best Christmas present ever!!!!

 

[4dugnlee]

When my sun conure "talks" it is in a sort of gravelly voice too. I can't always make out what he is saying but when he sounds that way, I figure he's trying to say something. He started saying good night to me a while back but that is about the only new thing he has said for me. Otherwise, he says the things he learned from his previous home. Foggy probably was saying good night to you..like you always say to him.

 

[GreatBlue320]

That's so exciting!

 

[Mimsy01]

Very cool! I find you have to kind of decipher gcc speak. They are not very clear compared to a lot of other birds. Foo says a lot of things, but it sometime takes us months to figure it out and yes the cadence and context is the best give away. They seem really good at understanding context. When she is greeting us, she says Hi Foo. Yum means good-which can be food, toy or even human related. Pretty bird is just happy singing sound. pew pew pew means lets play fight! katlyn (my daughters name) means where are you guys? Flock call so to speak.

Whereas our starling is much more clear at speech, but he changes the tone of the words to fit context. Zeki is a pretty bird in a happy tone is of course a good thing, but if mad he might scream Zeki is a pretty bird in a deep angry voice. our gcc, Foo never does this..the words are always in the right context.

 

[Altum]

An update, and a funny story...

Foggy has kept on improving in his consistency and intonation, to the point where my girlfriend has admitted he is definitely saying good night. He still has trouble with some of the consonants, but he has the vowels and the cadence right, and he only ever says it when we have shut off the lights and shut the door--until last night!

We are usually in bed by ten, which is when the "Good night" ritual plays out, but last night we were up a little past finishing an episode of something, and at about 10:15, Foggy came over to the bars on our side, began bobbing furiously (his signal that he wants something from us), and started saying very pointedly:

"KHOO-NAIIII! HOOO-NAIII!!"

 

[Captsteve]

He was definitely telling you to GO TO BED!!! Our flock will literally run us out of the living room at bed time with "Nite Nite" and "ready for bed" quickly followed with "Get the F out!"

 

[Aquila]

My Grey will put himself to bed in his cage, and continuously flap his wings saying "Night night Gonzo, Night night Gonzo" till you close the cage and cover him. He also starts headbobbing when he sees the blankets for his cage, like he loves going to bed!

The only word my GCC Berry would say that I could understand was "Whaaaaaaat?" in her little voice, which was the result of me, trying to understand what she was saying by saying "What?" "What was that?" so many times!

 

[PickleMeDickles]

Yes! Isn't that just the craziest thing when they say their first word. My GCC doesn't talk at all but my Suns do. They started with "okay" (probably because we were always saying "okay, enough"). Then they said it over and over and over. Now all the sudden their words are increasing really fast. Perhaps Foggy will follow the same pattern. We did get all excited and constantly said okay to their okay so I think they figured talking will get them more attention!