...who says they're quiet?

[darth_mint]

It's just day four, and Nicky's been exchanging catcalls with the birds outside since sunrise. I swear he's come out with every single sound made by every single bird in the pet shop and in the neighbourhood, including a crow which he only heard once yesterday!

 

That's three hours and counting of non-stop bird noises, wolf whistles (WHERE did he learn those?) occasional car engine noises, some pretty rude sounds my dad was making at him yesterday :laugh:

 

Anyone else get this volume of noise from their Grey? Does yours do it spontaneously, or exchange calls with the birds outside? (As I'm writing this, Nicky is sounding off with crow croaks, and sounding more like a crow than the real thing ever did)

[dblhelix]

most make pretty good amounts of noise. You will find they may do it more in the early morning or a certain time in the evening, then of course they will use calls to get attention etc and sometimes just practice various noises they have heard. If you respond (even to an "annoying" noise) they get attention and its all the more reason for them to make it!

 

Most are definitely not "quiet" at all, but compared to some other species they are generally not as loud. Of course if varies from individual bird to bird w/in the species as well.. :woohoo:

[judygram]

I would rate Josey as quiet compared to Sunny, my sun conure as she can be quite loud but she goes thru times during the day and evening when she is more vocal than at other times.

[BMustee]

My grey is like a church mouse 90% of the time. She can raise the volume but even then it's not really loud. She isn't ever really exposed to loud noises so she never had a chance to learn them. If a grey learns a macaw scream though it will be just as loud.

[AshleyKay]

Ace isant very "loud" persay, but he does get vocal. He is only 4 months old though, so Im not sure how much that will change as he gets older. I have four kids, and our house gets quite busy and loud at times, so Im suprised I haven't heard him getting loud. He doesnt scream or screech, but definately is testing his voice and trying out sounds. A friend of ours is staying with us and just commented the other day about him saying "I swear that bird picks up a new sound every day"

[Tycos_mom]

Tyco is a very quiet bird compared to my Amazon Tyco Talks and talks and talks about this and that and food and toys but she talks at the same volume as we would talk. mabie because she is older and knows more words now she doesn't do sound effects to much any more so she isn't loud any more I don't care if she talks all day long her tone of voice isn't at all loud

[zooman]

You should be proud you have such an engaged bird, even though a vorw doesnt make the most appealing sound. I had the same problem with my Alexandrine with a blue jay, zuri the TAG replicates more my sounds than calls of the wild..but yeah sometimes early in the morning they can be urghhh indoor voice would ya!! but the other comment is soo right if you encourage them by saying like what i did a few times, "be quiet" well after that it was the annoying sound and a quick "be quiet" from him right after...

[Acappella]

If Nicky's vocalizations are starting too early in the morning, you might consider putting a smaller cage in a room that can be quiet and dark until it's time to get up in the morning. Some members here use sleep cages like this with good results. If that's not an option, look into a cage cover. Just introduce it slowly. I'm lucky. My litle chatterbox's main cage is in a room that's dark and quiet at night. He talks constantly all day, with a few naps interspersed between sessions, but he doesn't start talking until I open the door and turn on the lights in the morning.

[Laurie]

Klaus is up & down all day...

He definitely has his moments where he's vocalizing up a storm! And then others where he's completely quiet. It's funny because when he gets going it's just background noise to me. But I'll be on the phone and whoever I'm talking to will say, "What is going on with your bird?" and I'll say, "Oh, I guess he was chattering, wasn't he?" It's like I don't even notice.

[Nychsa]

Like Judy, I have a conure/Grey combo - my conure, Jiggy is the quieter one (believe it or not!). He'll screech when I come home and then every now and then in the morning,

 

Bella, my grey, on the other had jabbers all day long!:laugh: She always has something to say and most of the time I have no idea where she's getting this stuff. The other day I was trying to read something on the couch and she yells from behind me "WAKE UP!!!!" I was dumbfounded! Where did she get that??? Well, it was that stupid Pepsi commercial that's been playing recently.

 

Then she has an entire variation on Peak-a-boo. She'll sing it, she'll yell it, she'll say it once, she'll say peaky, peaky, boo boo. She'll just say Peak-a, or she'll just say boo boo. Then she says beep beep, and it just goes on and on - she barks like the dogs, rings like the telephone, sounds like the microwave door opening. She is this none stop talking machine! I sit on the floor reading the paper, she comes up to me and says "watcha doinin?" I told her I'm reading, and then she lets out a laugh and then a kiss. Go figure! :laugh:

 

She growls fiercely at the birds outside, so I don't think she'll mimic them any time soon, but for that she makes up in abundance else where!

 

Cheers!

Terri

[Nychsa]

Oh - and she has a variety of responses to me as well! When she's up to no good (like climbing a lamp and trying to eat the little beads on the lamp) and I scold her and say "Bella no, no, no!", She's starts to growl like my female greyhound (my female greyhound growls at my male greyhound when he tries to zero in on her food bowl - Bella finds that fascinating)! Now that sounds wierd coming from a bird :blink:

 

Oh - and she sings this silly song my grand daughter taught her - the tootie tat. She bobs up and down and sings her heart out!

 

I don't know about some AG's, but Bella is constantly jabbering about something!

[Jane08]

Bella sounds like the female verison of our male. Jabber jabber jabber all day. He even has his head in the food bowl and talks away. He talks as he falls asleep and then suddenly wakes up and has that look of right where was I and starts to talk again.

 

He seems to like the echo that it makes when he puts his head in something and talks. He sits on the container of beads and sticks his head inside and then talks. He also walks himself completely into a cardboard box so you can only see his tail and then he talks.

 

The most amazing thing though is when he is sitting on me and I am touching him and he talks and I can feel the vibration in his body. It just blows me away that he is actually talking and understands what I say.

 

It has even got to the point where he knows what I am going to say before I even say it. I just put my hand up to him and he goes "c'mon up" and then steps up and says "good boy". That is exactly what I say to him. If I forget to say up or good boy he repeats it to remind me to say it.

[Refunds_Mom]

When we got Refund we both agreed he's actually quieter than some smaller birds we've been around. Refund does this one obnoxious beeping noise that sounds like a smoke alarm with a dying battery. He does this when he wants out of his cage (or, apparently, any kind of attention). Then, we got Joey, and she does the same noise, only shriller.

 

So, um, Refund was quiet until right about...now. For the past 10 minutes they've been beeping back and forth at each other -- they're in separate rooms so Joey can settle in a little more, but I have a feeling that won't last very long. :lol:

 

Neither of them are talking but they have a nice little repetoire (sp?) of whistles, and Joey imitates a water drop noise perfectly.

 

Call me crazy, but I don't WANT them to be quiet! I love hearing all the noises they can make, and I can't wait until they start talking.

 

Meg

[Nychsa]

Awe Meg - I'm sure once Refund and Joey get settled in, you'll start hearing all kinds of fun things!

 

I do like to hear Bella's jabbering as well. The only problem is when she tries to out jabber me when I'm on the phone and she gets louder, and louder and louder until I have to leave the room. Then she starts yelling "Momma!!!!!!!!! Momma!!!!!!!!!!!!" at the top of her lungs and most people whom I'm speaking with think I have a kid who's going crazy! So, I have to explain that it's my parrot and then of course the conversation stops - and they want to listen to Bella carry on. Fun - but in the middle of a teleconference where you're trying to discuss complex engineering issues, well, that's a different issue! :laugh:

[tarnold]

Hershey is usually very vocal in the mornings, not so much in the afternoon but gets very vocal in the evening. I think it's because thats when I am home. It's amazing how much they pick up in a short period of time.

 

In 2 weeks she says Hello, Pretty bird, Whatcha doin, and various whistels and other noises. She also sounds just like my Tiel at times. It's awsome just to sit and listen to her. She only has 1 high pitched screetch that makes my head hurt but dosent do it very often now that I dont respond to it.

[Tycos_mom]

Isn't that so much fun when your trying to talk on the phone and your bird has been quiet all day til ya picked up the phone then scream screach and you can't hear your self think let alone the person your trying to talk too and they can't hear you because there is to much noise in the background My Amazon is the absolute worst for this Tyco just tells her be quiet so I have one screaming and screching and the other one yelling be quiet Usually I end up saying I'll call you back later. Like when I;m not at home.

[Lyric]

I think overall African Greys are quieter than Amazons, Cockatoos, Macaws or Conures. The sounds my greys make are much more pleasant than the calls the amazons and conures make. Although, Lyric has one noise he makes when he wants out of his cage- it sounds like "ACKKK" a barking kind of sound that he does over and over even though I ignore it the best I can. That can get a little annoying at times! Just all part of dealing with a parrot though. And yeah, the phone conversations are interesting at my house. The dogs always start playing and getting wild with each other and barking while I'm on the phone, and my grey always tries to bite me if I try to pick him up when I'm on the phone. So he's flying around to all the places he knows he's not supposed to be and I'm trying to herd him and the dogs around while trying to have a conversation with someone...you all know how it is!

[SarahDavid]

My CAG is most of the times very quiet, he is almost 4 months old we got him when he was 3 months.

 

Its funny people complain about their AG talking too much im hoping he will talk more..

 

 

Zahra

[kittykittykitty]

I'm for a talking Grey. That's one of the reasons for havine this species.:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Nychsa]

Their ability to talk certainly puts a new twist on the relationship between a human and a companion animal Zahra :laugh: Just recently I had another new experience with Bella - I was out of town and a friend was taking care of Bella and Jiggy. When ever my friend would come over Bella would start yelling "momma!!" over and over again. It made my friend feel so badly for her that she was so lonely. When I heard that it brought tears to my eyes. We suspect our dogs and cats miss us when we leave, but our parrots - they can say so....

[slmclean]

chloe can get loud at times to but it doesnt last to long thank goodness lol.