African Grays don't squawk. They whistle and make all sorts of sounds ranging from sawing and hammering to snapping sounds to old car squeals and car alarms. We never taught Buster to speak. Because of his intelligence he is able to observe situations, body language and tone of voice. He is never wrong in his response.
African Grays are masters of imitation. When we start to fry something, Buster starts the "smoke alarm" sound. This would be bad enough but then a real one goes off and then our second one. We then have three smoke alarms sounding off at once!
Most times when we use the microwave, even though Buster can't see us he can hear the microwave door. Just as we push the first number, Buster makes the "microwave beep". Now we aren't sure if we pushed the number or not. I once set a mug of coffee to heat for 444 seconds instead of 45. I had quite a mess to clean up.
He loves to answer the phone and imitating the answering machine. One day he said, "Hello, this is Carol and Dennis"...and he added, and the bird!" He follows up with undetermined jabber as though he is leaving a message.
Our son birdsat only once. Because he worked nights, he slept during the day or at least he tried to do so. When we came home, our son greeted us with bloodshot eyes. Apparently Buster "hammered and sawed" so loudly each day along with all his other sounds and talking, that our son hadn't slept for three days. He never agreed to birdsit again!
Another time our son tried to take a nap on our couch. Next to the couch was a lamp with a copper shade. Well...unfortunately on the other side of the lamp was Buster on top of his cage. As soon as our son put his head down on the pillow, Buster leaned over and starting tapping on the metal shade. No nap for our son that day!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
MR. MANNERS
As I wrote last time, Buster is the Commander in the house. He also picked up on appropriate manners.
He is not friendly to visitors, especially the cleaning ladies and their vacuum. My husband rescued him the last time the cleaning ladies were vacuuming around his cage because he was screaming in fear like a small child. When the cleaning ladies stepped out the front door to leave, Buster said "Thank you!". The boss cleaning lady came back in to collect her check and turned around to step out the door, Buster, again, said "Thank you!" The ladies laughed knowing Buster was glad to get rid of them. (Remember, last time I wrote about how Buster gets people to leave.)
Often when Buster gets his food, seeds or water he also says "Thank you!"
The other day when Buster asked, "Are you ready to watch TV?", and I replied, "Yes.", Buster said, "Thank you!"
His speech is always appropriate to the situation. He also adds the emotion he picked up at the time he learned it. We only taught him to say one thing, "Neener, neener, neener." hoping he would say this to our son but he hasn't so far. We carry on simply conversations with Buster often the instigator. Birds love to interact with each other and us so to not respond is cruel. Sometimes the conversation is the same one we've had many times with some variations but we respond anyway.
He is not friendly to visitors, especially the cleaning ladies and their vacuum. My husband rescued him the last time the cleaning ladies were vacuuming around his cage because he was screaming in fear like a small child. When the cleaning ladies stepped out the front door to leave, Buster said "Thank you!". The boss cleaning lady came back in to collect her check and turned around to step out the door, Buster, again, said "Thank you!" The ladies laughed knowing Buster was glad to get rid of them. (Remember, last time I wrote about how Buster gets people to leave.)
Often when Buster gets his food, seeds or water he also says "Thank you!"
The other day when Buster asked, "Are you ready to watch TV?", and I replied, "Yes.", Buster said, "Thank you!"
His speech is always appropriate to the situation. He also adds the emotion he picked up at the time he learned it. We only taught him to say one thing, "Neener, neener, neener." hoping he would say this to our son but he hasn't so far. We carry on simply conversations with Buster often the instigator. Birds love to interact with each other and us so to not respond is cruel. Sometimes the conversation is the same one we've had many times with some variations but we respond anyway.
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