Pionus Chatting

GaleriaGila

Well-known member
Parrot of the Month 🏆
May 14, 2016
15,045
8,742
Cleveland area
Parrots
The Rickeybird, 38-year-old Patagonian Conure
I have never met a Pionus in person, so I was just now enjoying a bit of surfing.
Ooooooh, they're cute.
I especially liked this guy.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjX2cvJyYsM"]Max Pionus Talking - YouTube[/ame]
 

AmyMyBlueFront

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2015
6,315
Media
4
3,034
Connecticut
Parrots
Amy a Blue Front 'Zon
Jonesy a Goffins 'Too who had to be rehomed :-(

And a Normal Grey Cockatiel named BB who came home with me on 5/20/2016.

Lynsey

Member
Jul 30, 2014
97
18
Parrots
Fonzie - White Capped Pionus (male) - Hatched 5/24/14
Betty - Brown Headed Parrot (female) - Hatched 12/15/22
I have a white capped pionus. He is pretty quiet, but he can and does scream occasionally.....especially when I'm on the phone or his favorite movie is playing. He loves all the Jurassic Park movies. He knows and gets super excited during the opening theme music. He talks all the time. He seems to use it correctly too. He asks if something is yummy everytime I give him a snack or treat. He can wave too.
108953d3fb4590fc6047da9170dc7f23.jpg


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LordTriggs

New member
May 11, 2017
3,427
24
Surrey, UK
Parrots
Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
I have a white capped pionus. He is pretty quiet, but he can and does scream occasionally.....especially when I'm on the phone or his favorite movie is playing. He loves all the Jurassic Park movies. He knows and gets super excited during the opening theme music. He talks all the time. He seems to use it correctly too. He asks if something is yummy everytime I give him a snack or treat. He can wave too.
108953d3fb4590fc6047da9170dc7f23.jpg


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Not surprised that's his favourite movie! He's taking a look at the older members of the family, I think we all know who he's rooting for!
 

Lynsey

Member
Jul 30, 2014
97
18
Parrots
Fonzie - White Capped Pionus (male) - Hatched 5/24/14
Betty - Brown Headed Parrot (female) - Hatched 12/15/22
No kidding! He goes crazy during the action scenes. I have to admit, I don't mind watching Chris Pratt over and over again.

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LordTriggs

New member
May 11, 2017
3,427
24
Surrey, UK
Parrots
Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
well there are worse people to see on screen!

I gotta ask, how loud is your White Cap's noises? I've thought of getting a Pio especially a White cap but being an apartment person gotta watch them decibels!
 

Piasa

Member
Jan 12, 2016
569
15
USA Nomad
Parrots
Beau 20 year old male Green Cheek || Jimmy Bullet 17 year old female white cap pionus parrot
White caps are very apartment friendly. Their contact calls are high pitched and ear-piercy, but not particularly loud. My girl rarely makes a peep. We've lived all over, and people don't realize she's there unless they see her.
 

LeslieA

New member
Aug 21, 2018
554
Media
7
Albums
1
13
Parrotian Castle
Parrots
Glenn, IRN; Sherman, WCP; JoJo, budgie; Tommy, budgie; Daytona, Sunday; Sir Lancelot, GCC; Duchess, BCC; Chirps, GRP (Green-rumped Parrotlet)
well there are worse people to see on screen!

I gotta ask, how loud is your White Cap's noises? I've thought of getting a Pio especially a White cap but being an apartment person gotta watch them decibels!

WCPs make great apartment birds. Their jungle calls can be ear- piercing, but you will quickly and easily learn what provokes that flock call. The first call my way totally scared me and I just knew she was dying or something!

I consider mine to be the autistic bird of parrotdise. She is quiet but repetitive. She doesn't take to sudden schedule changes. She doesn't take to sudden diet changes. She likes to be mistress of her cage and ruler/controller of her lifestyle. I let her decide what she wants by leaving her cage open and not forcing or intruding.

Always the Debbie Downer, something you should consider is cage size. I had to remove part of the cage to fit it in my seat- down Acadia. To get it in my door, I had to choose between breaking down the cage or removing the door.

Even so, who can resist those big, baby eyes? Their feathers are beautiful, too. Once you see one, you're hooked (and this is from a conure addict.).

I do recommend the book THE PRACTICAL PIONUS to anyone getting or just curious to Pionuses. Your local library may have it, but I bought it for myself to keep!
 

LordTriggs

New member
May 11, 2017
3,427
24
Surrey, UK
Parrots
Rio (Yellow sided conure) sadly no longer with us
haha you sound much like me! I'm a well documented Conure addict. thankfully my neighbours seem to be okay with some noises, we all live right by a train line about 1/2 a mile from a station so lots of train honking. They never made any hassle over my conure singing the song of his people.

HAha! Well the autistic species would fit in perfectly in my home! I used to refer to my conure as an autistic dog. Always funny to hold up a picture of him and say "this is my dog, please be patient he has autism"
 

buurd

Active member
May 11, 2018
295
37
Parrots
2 Rosy Bourke's parrots
I have a white capped pionus. He is pretty quiet, but he can and does scream occasionally.....especially when I'm on the phone or his favorite movie is playing. He loves all the Jurassic Park movies. He knows and gets super excited during the opening theme music. He talks all the time. He seems to use it correctly too. He asks if something is yummy everytime I give him a snack or treat. He can wave too.
108953d3fb4590fc6047da9170dc7f23.jpg


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Im in love with this sweetheart <3 Look at that sweet bayb face! :) Does he answer the roars of the dinos in JP?

My male already greets me in the morning by bending forward and roaring at me. I think he's seen JP before.

Thank you for the book recommendation. I had heard that they were on the quiet side, and also that they are less human dependent for their emotional needs. That they get most of it met by another Pionus, and so they are more independent, and arent as clingy. I love that. And I also love their little square bodies. Theyre like the chubby toddlers of the pet parrot world. And I find their colors gorgeous, too. You're so lucky to have your buddy :)

Thanks, GG, for that clip! I love him, too. That little voice!
 
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LeslieA

New member
Aug 21, 2018
554
Media
7
Albums
1
13
Parrotian Castle
Parrots
Glenn, IRN; Sherman, WCP; JoJo, budgie; Tommy, budgie; Daytona, Sunday; Sir Lancelot, GCC; Duchess, BCC; Chirps, GRP (Green-rumped Parrotlet)
haha you sound much like me! I'm a well documented Conure addict. thankfully my neighbours seem to be okay with some noises, we all live right by a train line about 1/2 a mile from a station so lots of train honking. They never made any hassle over my conure singing the song of his people.

HAha! Well the autistic species would fit in perfectly in my home! I used to refer to my conure as an autistic dog. Always funny to hold up a picture of him and say "this is my dog, please be patient he has autism"
I'm a conure addict, too!

Here's my silly story. On a regular AV visit, we sat next to a glaring, screaming CREATURE. I swore I'd never own one of those DEVILBIRDS. Now, anything less than 3 in my flock and I'm lost!

Sherman, WCP, joined us when she needed immediate rescue. I'd never had a Pi before then overnight lived with one! She's my latest love and even though slow (One foot is disabled.), scarred (literally) and unable to fly, Sherman is mine!

We're about a block from the train tracks and a horn blares everytime it nears the unprotected intersection, so I sorta understand. At first, the birds go crazy day or night. Sherman had nightfrights that lasted just long enough to settle down for the next train and fell off her perch nightly. It took a while, but she finally got used to the train. Now my rehomed conures are out of quarantine and visit her which she hates. (Wait until she meets the other birdroom babies!)

Luckily, I live in a "stand-alone" house with my closest neighbor... well, I can see the house. HAHA... or my flock would drive them bonkers! (Well, crazier than we already are!)
 

nightfly

New member
Apr 19, 2015
26
3
NJ
Parrots
African gray, 'Toby'.
RIP Max and Bugsie (white capped pionus).
That is one cute bird. Pionus are supposed to be one of the quietest parrots, if there is such a thing.
My white capped Pionus, Max, (not the same bird as the one in the video here) I've had for 26 years now. And yes, they're relatively quiet. No screeching, but he will sort of 'bark' at the mailman and if he sees strangers outside. Maybe a good 'watch parrot'? He is for us.
They can talk, at least this male white capped does. Not a great deal, not like my Gray anyway. But he says hi, hello, how are you, what's new, how ya doin sweetheart give me a kiss, I taw I taw a puddy cat, I did, I did see a puddy cat!, and sometimes will even add the 'Bad ole' puddy cat!' as well. He says a few other things. And it's apparently never too old to teach them something new. He just started whistling about a year or two ago.

But perhaps the best thing is that they're, well, 'reserved'. He will sit on my shoulder all day long, or until he gets hungry or thirsty. Then he'll go off to eat, and then come back after a while.

He watches TV, too, but I haven't noticed any particular pattern to his watching likes or don't likes.

Like my Gray, Max eats all kinds of people food. Pizza is a big favorite, as well as hot dogs, hamburgers, pretty much anything that he can pick up and eat. Unlike the gray (who will just grab stuff with his foot), Max will pick up his food with his beak first, then transfer it to his foot to finish eating it.

However, we also had a female white capped, who never said a word of people language, but made lots of quiet-ish bird noises. She liked to watch basketball. She would climb down from her cage, walk across the room, climb up onto a chair and sit at the top and stay there quietly, watching the TV with the basketball game on it. After the game was over for a while, she'd climb down, walk back to her cage, and then go sit there quietly. She watched intently, I have no idea why.

She was a seed junky that we had purchased from a regular pet store at the age of two, and we were never able to completely get her off the seeds. She lived to be 20. Max is now 26, and has always been healthy.
 
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