Did You Know Crows Can Talk?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Beyond the Sidewalks : One Thread

I'm not kidding and I'm not crazy either. We went to the zoo yesterday. In the children's area they had 2 common crows in a pen with shelter and a few trees to fly around and to roost on. One of the crows was right up next to the wire and was letting a man scratch his head. The other one kept going through fits of flapping it's wings and saying hello over and over again. I never knew they could mimic. It was the strangest thing!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Answers

Denise...years ago I used to have a crow (common) and he would say "hello" and "bye". I've also had a starling that was really good at mimicry...sounds and whistles mostly. Around here we have lots of ravens and I'd really love to capture an orphan baby to hand raise!! Illegal here in Maine...but who would know :-)!

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

Keeping pet crows used to be fairly common. Not like having a cat or dog common, but people did it. There was a myth that you had to SPLIT the crow's tongue for it to be able to talk, so a bunch of them got that cruel treatment. Crows can learn to talk with or without the split tongue. I don't know how they do it, but I assume that it is similar to parrots. My parrot makes a perfect, long-drawn-out smooching sound (yes, I taught her that on purpose) -- but she does it with her beak open. No pursed lips for her! Which is good, since she doesn't HAVE lips . . .

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002

I didn't know all that about crows......how interesting! I did always hear they were smart though....I figure if they could really 'talk' for themselves, they'd be sayin all kinds of smart-alecky things!

Joy, do your parrots talk? My daughter has a cockatiel who loves to mimic things before they happen; he is so funny. Does dripping water as we approach the sink, makes the microwave beep, the sound of scraping dishes, barking dogs etc. He says a few things, like "Hi Dukie" when you approach, and "pretty boy". He also sings "pop goes the weasel", that little tune that ends in "charge!!" I cant remember the name of, and a few others. And of course he often writes his own music, and sometimes it is absolutely lovely to listen to.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002


I remember that Tasha Tudor and her kids had a pet crow--his name was Edgar Alan Crow. I don't know if he talked or not.

At a greenhouse in Toledo, they have a minah bird and he's always saying, "make like a duck, quack, quack" or "don't shoot, don't shoot!"

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002


The first words my cockieteil learned was "shithead" from a tape of "the jerk ". My dog has begun to mimic speech by straining her growls for a few sentence attempts.

-- Anonymous, June 02, 2002


I'm impressed with the cockatiels that talk! I have one that can sing-say Pretty Bird, and I HAD one (died) that could say Pretty Bird and Good Bird and (my favorite) Pretty Good Bird! That's it for talking by the cockatiels -- and they didn't learn it from me, but from their previous owners. I've had parakeets that could talk, but they've all flown over the rainbow now too.

I have two parrots. Lily, a Sun Conure, could talk if she wanted to (she said a couple of things when she was Julie's bird), but now just screams and will mutter "kacker" when she wants a graham cracker. Actually, she doesn't scream nearly as much as she used to. When Julie gave her to me, I was afraid my grey parrot would learn that scream, but thankfully, she has not.

The Congo African grey parrot (there is also a sub-species, Timneh African grey), Mariah, is the yakker of the crowd. They are considered the best talkers (overall) of the parrots. Mariah can say over 200 words, several phrases amongst them, but there are many that she said at one time that she rarely says anymore. She laughs, she does "phone conversations" that has the tone of me talking, but no actual words. When Mom and Julie come, it's especially hilarious, because of course, we start talking and laughing, and she will join in, and that makes us laugh even harder, which makes her laugh harder! And she follows the laughing by saying "Woooooo!" She can sing parts of songs, and whistles others. One of her favorites is whistling The Addams Family theme song, complete with the finger snap sounds. She used to do the sound of photon torpedos from Star Trek and other sound effects, but I haven't reinforced them later. I am eternally grateful that she has not decided to imitate the phone ringing, the microwave, sirens, or chainsaws. Many greys HAVE learned these things. Oh yeah, and I didn't want her learning any bad language, so when I would drop something, I would say either "Darn!" or "Well!" Now when I drop something she will say it for me. She also calls for Molly, one of my cats that has since passed on. She's known five cats total, but Molly is the only one whose name she learned. And she knew perfectly well which one was Molly, as she would say her name when she would see her, but never say it when she saw one of the other cats. I like to hear her yell for Molly, so I have continued to encourage it, even though Molly died over three years ago.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2002


Joy did not mention that her Grey also (used to) does wild turkey calls, bleats like a sheep (taught to her by one of her pet sitters), and goes "Whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop!" like Curly from The Three Stooges (wanna guess who taught her that one?). She also sings the theme from 'Rawhide' somewhat, as well as "Shimmy-Shimmy Coco-Bop" or whatever the name of that song is. Well, versions thereof, anyway.

I raised a Budgie (Cricket, aka Conan the Birdbarian) from day 1 hatchling who learned to be quite a talker, altho he didn't speak very loudly, but he had a goodly vocabulary, which he frequently misused, and it seemed to be on purpose at times.

One of my on-line acquaintances had an absolutely charming Budgie named Saffron who was not very Ladylike. Saffron had learned to give ripping belches and farts (from the owner's brothers, of course. Joy should be glad that WE only teach her bird to bleat and do Stooges!), as well as smooching sounds.

One day they were having a football party and her brothers were fighting once again about a play on Tv and said to his brother "Kiss my ass!!" To which Saffron obliged with a big loud "SMMMMMMMMMMMMWACK!!" smooch. They were having the party on the roof of the building, and she almost lost both her brothers over the side that day, they were laughing so hard.

-- Anonymous, June 03, 2002


Wow, all these talking birds. Where have I been?

This gives me a new perspective on the Edgar Allen Poe poem. I always thought the character in the poem was just imagining hearing the bird talk. But I guess that he could have actually heard the bird talking for real. Now how did he get the idea for the Tell Tale Heart?

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002


Denise...don't forget about Jay's talking dog :-)!! Our Alaskan Malamute used to attempt the word "hello". At least that's what it sounded like when he would say "woo-woo"! He used to love to hide behind a tree and jump out at us to say hello as we walked closer. We would alawys let him think that he "surprised" us. Visiters to the house didn't think it was so funny, though, to have a 130 lb. wolf-like animal jump out at them!!!

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002

Did anyone happen to watch Martha Stewart today?? She had that pet guy...can't remember his name... and he had lots of Australian birds on display. My favorite was the Koocaburra (sp.?). Very LOUD!!

-- Anonymous, June 04, 2002


My friend has an amazing cockateil, charlie, he can whistle the theme of the Andy Griffth show, he can say ,give me some, Mama come here, who farted, hello, goodbye, and other words that don't come to me right now, I tell you he's like a party in a cage.

There is an old man that writes a quest column in our local newpaper about his pet crows of his childhood. He says that they are thiefs and really has some cute stories.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2002


I think crows can count, too...

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2002

Another talking bird that IS legal to abduct from a nest and raise as a pet are Starlings. They're not native to the US, so it is not illegal to take them or keep them. Male Starlings are actually very beautiful birds, and they have a similar talking capacity to that of their cousins, the Mynah bird. They also eat mynah bird pellets, but be forewarned that they tend to be MESSY birds. The people that I have heard from that have Starlings tend to like them despite that small drawback. They also eat fruit, insects, corn, and a little meat.

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

sheepish , do you mean they can learn to say numbers or that they can actually count objects? I've heard of a band called The Counting Crows. Interesting.

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

I'm not sure, Denise, but I think one of our resident comedians (funny girl, Sheepish!) was makin a funny with that very band in mind. Least that was was what popped in my head when I read it. She's a witty one, that's sure!

How do people have the patience to teach their birds to talk? I've tried it with ours, and have taught him a couple songs, but it makes me nutz from repetition. Spose I could make a tape, but I'd still have to listen to it for hours on end!

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002



EM, most birds don't learn well from tapes. Since I've never taught any of the 'tiels to talk, I really am not an authority. However, they are not NOTED for talking -- not like some parrots and parakeets. I really think the best talkers amongst 'tiels are those that are "only" birds and get all their owners' attention.

Now with parrots, DRAMA is one aspect that makes it easier to learn. Which is why I made myself say things like DARN! instead of DAMN! or worse. Parrots communicate by calls and they imitate other flock members, which in a captive situation means the owner/family. Sometimes even the family cat or dog. Julie had a 'keet that would bark (fortunately in a very tiny parakeet voice)! Also if you say things that are associated with pleasurable events, such as always saying "Want to come out?" before you take the bird out of the cage, or saying "I love you" during a snuggle session. They learn those quickly. And sheer repetition works too. I believe parrots LIKE to learn things -- makes life less boring. And if they learn to say something and it gets them attention, they learn that lesson too!

I have read that parrots have the intellectual capacity of a five year old and the emotional maturity of a two year old (human). I'd put them a bit higher, especially when they are older.

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002


Joy...I'm thinking about getting a couple of parakeets (to torment my housecats :-)!!). If I get two to keep each other company does that lessen the probability that they would learn to talk? Isn't it only the males that will talk? So...if I get two males will they fight? Maybe I should just get one male? Is that enough questions???

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

Denise! You caught me! Earthmama! You've forgotten more about music than I'll ever know....

-- Anonymous, June 06, 2002

Julie probably has something to say about parakeets too, if she would only chime in . . ..

Marcia, my first parakeet, Perky, was a female. I was determined that "he" was a male (probably because I wanted "him" to talk), but when mature, the cere (fleshy part over the nostrils) turned brown, and in most of the color variations this is a DEFINITE sign of femaleness. Perky was a normal green color, so definitely a female. I wouldn't admit this, however, until long after the bird died. Kids are weird (I got Perky as a baby when I was ten; found her under a bush in Florida at my grandparents place. There are feral parakeet populations many places in Florida).

That is a very long introduction to saying that MY female parakeet did talk. When she chose to speak, she could speak quite clearly. But she only learned a few words -- pretty, bird, Perky (all could be strung together in many combinations). She also said (most of) the phrase, "Perka-deedle-dydle-um-tweet-tweet". Some weird line from a weird song that my dad knew -- he came up with that once I decided to name the bird Perky (kids are rotten at picking out good names, for the most part!). So, females can talk. But it's probably true that males, in general, talk better. Most of the birds that I have heard of having large vocabularies have been blue. But I don't know if that is because they talk better or because they're more popular for pets. The two best parakeet talkers we've had were blue males, for what that's worth.

In general, two males will get along just fine, and so will two females, and a male/female pair is fine for interaction, although you run the risk of babies, and that they will not pay ANY attention to you. They are colony breeders, so there is less likelihood of a single pair taking to raising a family, but it's possible. All that said, any two birds MIGHT not get along. I've heard of them squabbling, and one being downright mean (not just dominant) to the other.

Birds, especially small ones, like canaries, parakeets, lovebirds, and cockatiels, are a BIG risk with cats. My birds have their OWN room, with doors that close (I cut windows in the doors and put wire in them). I have only had ONE cat (out of five) that I would SEMI- trust with the birds (the aforementioned Molly). And even if you could rely on the cat to not try to get the birds, the birds don't know that and probably would have a heart attack if the cat got too close. Seriously, birds can die of heart attack. Or injure themselves thrashing about trying to get away from that large predator.

One of Julie's friends, who had a cat and parakeet got a serandipitous solution to the cat stalking bird problem. Something traumatic happened to the cat while going after the bird! I'll let Julie tell that story, she's much funnier at it than I. Still, if you want the parakeet(s) to be any kind of a "finger bird", having a cat around is very problematic. It really cuts down on your opportunities for bringing the bird out of the cage to interact with you. Not to mention the possibilities of "oops, the bird is still out of the cage and the cat is on the loose". This can apply to dogs too. My friend's dog snatched her mother's parakeet right out of the air as it was flying around loose. Other dogs have stepped on birds that were on the floor, accidentally but deadly. I'm afraid it would be the bird who was tormented, rather than the cat.

All my cats have learned to be afraid of the parrot (she is quite willing to bite them, and has bitten every single one of them), something that I have encouraged because it tends to make them want to stay out of the bird room and not even try to get in. Molly and Mariah did eventually come to a truce. Molly was somewhat accepted by the birds because she showed no interest in them. But Molly was a very unusual cat, with a fairly low prey-drive, and this was in her sunset years when she didn't give damn about a lot of things!

At the VERY LEAST, if you get a bird(s), I would make sure the cage was situated where the cats have absolutely NO way to get to the cage, and make sure that every single door and the sliding tray are secured with clip-on "snaps" to prevent any prying paws. And you have to really analyze the cat's attack routes. Usually, if you "think they can't get to it", you're wrong. They can. Many cats will try to knock a cage down and then get at the bird through any openings they can find.

-- Anonymous, June 07, 2002


Moderation questions? read the FAQ