Grey bonding with lovebird - now what?

[Zoom]

My lovebird, Oboe, has convinced my baby Grey, Simon, to be his best friend. They only spend about two hours a day together, when I bring Oboe down to hang out with the big birds. But they hang out together and preen each other and Oboe even stands on Simon's back to get to those hard-to-reach spots.

 

The problem is that Oboe is teaching Simon how to speak lovebird. He's mastered the contact call, and sometimes they sit on my keyboard (while I'm typing) and practice it non-stop for fifteen minutes.

 

If I say hello to Simon, he responds with a lovebird squawk. Lovebirds have a lot going for them, but their voices aren't one of their better attributes. Is there anything I can do to stop Simon from speaking lovebird? More importantly, is he going to speak lovebird INSTEAD of English? He's only four and a half months old, so he hasn't learned any words or phrases yet.

[thenabrd]

hahahaha!!! sorry but its cute. kallie is a bit over 2 1/2 years old and is our rehomed grey. she was just learning words when we got her, until then she did sounds, not many, mostly umbrella cockatoo, which were the 2 other birds she lived with. we've had her several months now. she's learned more words, but she also speaks dead on athena, who's our peach front conure. its hilarious in its own way. when i'm in another room, i have to determine who's talking kallie or athena. athena was very surprised the first time she heard kallie speaking like her. up until we got kallie, athena was an only bird and she loves to talk to the birdies outside. she'd call and call, then wait for a response, but never got one because no one but her (at that point) spoke athena!!! i'm sure simon will also learn human. oh, and i did work in a pet store for a while where the grey there laughed and said hi or hello in all the employees voices.

[Bear]

Ah bless, don't worry, he will still learn to talk!

 

Our CAG Bear was best friends with our U2 Bean....she is a very quiet cockatoo but still, they make certain noises when they chat. He had those down to a tee by 6months old, but he also spoke English too. And the car alarm, and the phone, and whistles and tunes haha.

 

It's great that they are making friends We just got a new CAG baby and are looking forward to introducing him!

[Birdnut]

Our CAG Moussa is a year old. He has begun to talk with words and sounds a lot like me. But he also speaks fluent pionus, sun conure, and blue crowned conure. The blue crowned conures are good talkers, and Moussa has learned from them all the things they say, which he faithfully reproduces in their voices. He also does the chicken imitation that I had taught the conures, even though I tell him that it's beneath his dignity. He also learned to speak lovebird as his first language, as he is housed in the same room as our lovebird, Izze. He started mimicking the other birds before he started picking up human speech, but he is picking up human speech just fine now. So I would not worry about Simon.

[Zoom]

I am greatly relieved - thank you! (And Simon says SQUAWK!)

[chezron]

I wouldn't worry about it. I may even be encouraged by the fact he is: imitating another living creature (showing potential to copy human voices) and demonstrating his vulnerability and congeniality.