He lets us know.....

[birdiemom]

Paulie's bedtime is 9PM. Tonight at about 5 minutes til we heard him say," it's time...get up there! " That's what I tell him when the cover goes on. He sleeps on his swing. He talks so cute we just have to laugh!

[musicjan]

Awwww - what a sweetie! How I hope that Bitsy decides to talk! So far, he says "pretty bird!" when he lands on our shoulders, but that's it. Good for Paulie - keeping his "slaves" on the ball.

[Kathy]

That is so cute. Every morning when I uncover Nemo, I say "Good morning!" He's a fast learner so I'm hoping I'll hear it back in return one of these days! :)

[Mama2ManyMouths]

Everyday, Skyler (18 months old) plays "Peekaboo" with us by initiating it. He ducks his head behind something (toy, perch, etc.) and calls "peekaboo" then waits for a response. He can keep this up for 15 minutes or more, in fact we get tired of it before he does. LOL I've also seen him playing "peekaboo" with some of his favourite toys. :D

He also says "uppy-day" (my version of step-up) and "pretty bird." He's been trying to say something else lately, but we can't quite make it out. I suppose with more practice, he will make it clearer and easier for us "cloth-ears" to understand. :p

When he's settling down for a nap, he will babble all his words non-stop, but very very quietly. It's too cute.

[birdiemom]

Keep talking to them, everyone....that's how they learn. They are sooooo smart.
Paulie also says quiet things we can't understand. They do have tiny voices! But he also has a big vocabulary that we DO understand. And he practices all the time LOL

[wiggletail]

I have "caught" Wednesday talking on a few occasions, but to do so I have to sneak up on her to hear it. She will mainly do it to compete with my Meyers or my very vocal Cockatiel.

I am amazed at the range of vocabulary that some of you have described in your birds. Wednesday is 3 1/2 and only says "hi" or will at most mimick single-syllable words while I'm working with Roscoe, the Meyers. She does growl alot, and sort of sounds like she's sarcastically buzzing: "Ehhhhhh ehhhhh..." - usually just before a light nip on my earlobe to get my attention. She does a high-pitched wimpery sound when she isn't getting her way, and also does it to attract and drive my Meyers parrot crazy (He's in love with her and she knows it!). There is also a sort of chortle sound which to me sounds like a squirrel. Sorry if my descriptions are so bizarre - but these birds have very different vocal ranges than the big guys it seems.

[Pado]

That’s very cool! – My male will say Hello and some longer phrase we still can’t understand. His voice is very robot like. But since I’ve added a female I’m sure his talking ability will probably be limited to Hello, that unknown phrase and Parrotlet :p
Which is fine by me – I love hearing them talk in Parrotlet to each other :D

[Sally]

Chipper just starts doing a little squeak when she is tired, at about 8pm or so. I sing a song and cover her each night. They love to have rituals. I have not heard of girls talking. Mostly boys talk. I don't mind because little girls are usually quiet. Chipper sure is. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v492/Sally11/PICT0514380-1.jpg

[wiggletail]

Sally,
I wondered about that! I found out the hard way (after receiving a hen) that female cockatiels don't sing, so I was curious to know if that were generally true among most talking bird species such as p'lets. Does any of our senior members out there know what the general rule is?

[Pado]

I believe it differs from species to species. In Parrotlets its true that males are usually more prone to mimic speech than females. In African Grey’s either gender can mimic equally although not all do.

In general in most bird species the male is more flashy and vocal – one to attract the female but also to attract the attention of predators away from the female and the nest site if need be. I saw in a documentary once that male birds also mimic other species of birds and animals to blend in with their surrounding and not be noticed. So it differs from species to species.

The female is usually quieter and more plainly colored so as not to attract attention to the nest site –

[birdiemom]

Of all the pet birds I have had or observed the males are usually the talkers, but we once a budgie that was an excellent talker and could hold conversations with us. She could say all our names and called us by name. my daughter was about 10 at the time.She always kissed her good night and one night Traci (our daughter) forgot to kiss her. After Traci left the room, we heard Jo Jo say "Twaci kiss Jo Jo".....she couldn't say the "r" sound. So we called Traci back in, Jo Jo got her kiss and all was well!