Bonding Through Song

[JeffNOK]

Well I have been visiting my baby Gracie at the breeders almost every day. Now that she is flighted, she doesn't like me to handle her too much. She steps up nicely, but once I have her out of her cage, she usually flies off to a perch rather than stay on me.

 

Today when I went to visit, I was standing there just talking to her when I decided to sing her a little song. I sang "You Are My Sunshine". She seemed positively transfixed. When I talk to her, she sometimes seems to pay attention, but nothing like when I sang! She just stopped preening and looked at me with the sweetest little black eyes.

 

When I stopped, she walked closer to me and made some little vocalizations like she wanted more. I spent the next 30 minutes going through my karaoke repertoire from John Denver to Peter Paul and Mary and Elton John--(NO I'm not 107 yrs old, but I didn't think Lady Gaga or Maroon 5 was as soothing).

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed it!

 

Do your birds also enjoy your singing?

Edited October 26, 2011 by JeffNOK

[Luvparrots]

Oh yes, my three are music lovers. My zon loves to sing and my grey has a nice beat going also. Their favorites, music with drum beats.

[Mistyparrot]

My singing voice could get me arrested for aural assault but Misty seems to like it! His preference though is whistling with me.

If you can whistle and either repeat any whistle tune you hear from Gracie especially if it sound like it might be her contact call or teach her one, you will find it helps to form a good bond between you.

 

Steve n Misty

[birdhouse]

Absolutely! It doesn't matter whether you can carry a tune in a basket or not. Let's face it, they aren't the sweetest sounding birdies in the branches. Maybe they're even a little tone deaf. But hey, as long as it works, right?

 

Phenix was a howling growler when he came home. As soon as he thought anyone was about to approach him he'd start & keep getting louder the closer they came. It's one thing to talk calmly & soothingly to an upset critter. But let's just say it's counter productive if you have to yell so they can actually hear you.

 

After a couple of weeks of being drowned out by threats of death & bodily harm, I was getting a little desperate to find another approach. Since I can't whistle, at all, I just started to sing at some point. All these years later I can still remember being as surprised as you sound by his reaction.

 

I think a lot of people think we're joking when we suggest they sing to their new fids. But they can be amazingly receptive to it.

[JeffNOK]

Actually before I sang to her, I whistled "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean". She liked the whistling too. But she seemed more interested in the singing. I guess I will mix it up.

[pikachu]

I'm afraid to sing to my CAG - her singing voice might sound like me!

 

All three of ours start going when we play classical piano in the house.

The CAG really listened when I played a recording of "Queen of the Night" by Mozart.

They love music.

[MarcusCAG]

I sang "You Are My Sunshine". She seemed positively transfixed. When I talk to her, she sometimes seems to pay attention, but nothing like when I sang! She just stopped preening and looked at me with the sweetest little black eyes.

 

When I stopped, she walked closer to me and made some little vocalizations like she wanted more. I spent the next 30 minutes going through my karaoke repertoire from John Denver to Peter Paul and Mary and Elton John--(NO I'm not 107 yrs old, but I didn't think Lady Gaga or Maroon 5 was as soothing).

 

Do your birds also enjoy your singing?

 

Hehehe, I like that part about not being 107 years old... my mom played a lot of John Denver and Peter, Paul, and Mary when I was growing up, so I know a lot of that music, too. "You Are My Sunshine" is actually one of Marcus' favorite songs for me to sing him, but I've never thought to sing him any of the folk stuff I was reared on, myself. I'll have to try that!

 

And to answer your question, personally: Yes, Marcus just adores being sung to. My hubby says he (Marcus) prefers my singing voice, since my husband can't carry a tune very well, but I wonder if it's more the fact that I'm singing to Marcus. He'll often be hanging out and then just suddenly bow his little head and kind of hum the first few notes of this one song I sing to him often, one we sing at our congregation meetings. That's my cue to stop whatever I'm doing, go over there, and "tickle" his head and neck while I sing him the entire song! Then, of course, if I stop too early for his liking, Marcus will "hum" again and I have to wrack my brain for more songs to sing him!! For a short while it was a bedtime ritual kind of thing, but now it's just whenever--and Marcus is often the one to call the shots! But he loves being sung to; the little parrots do and they don't, it's more like take it or leave it depending on their mood, but for Marcus, it's almost a necessity for his happiness!

Edited April 1, 2016 by MarcusCAG