Need help entertaining my parrots

[LeeC]

Grady (Timneh) is especially entertained by "parrot the parrot", where he makes a sound, and I try to reproduce it. His skills far exceed mine, of course, with beeps, boops, and whistles. So, I cheated. I bought a train whistle, a "siren" whistle, a slide whistle, a water-filled-birdie whistle, etc. He is still entertained by them, but the novelty has worn off for him. I need some new, fairly-simple sound generator that will capture his interest. Please share your ideas.

 

[wrench13]

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR ! You could be listening to this whistle for decades, ad nauseum.

 

[HeatherG]

Jasper likes “parrot the parrot”, too. Where I imitate his vocalizations as close as possible, not always right on but getting the pitch correct.

It seems to make him happy. I figure as long as I’m not imitating an upset noise, but a happy or contented noise, it’s probably good.

 

[HeatherG]

Grady (Timneh) is especially entertained by "parrot the parrot", where he makes a sound, and I try to reproduce it. His skills far exceed mine, of course, with beeps, boops, and whistles. So, I cheated. I bought a train whistle, a "siren" whistle, a slide whistle, a water-filled-birdie whistle, etc. He is still entertained by them, but the novelty has worn off for him. I need some new, fairly-simple sound generator that will capture his interest. Please share your ideas.

View attachment 44622

The singing bird water whistles sound nice.

Grady (Timneh) is especially entertained by "parrot the parrot", where he makes a sound, and I try to reproduce it. His skills far exceed mine, of course, with beeps, boops, and whistles. So, I cheated. I bought a train whistle, a "siren" whistle, a slide whistle, a water-filled-birdie whistle, etc. He is still entertained by them, but the novelty has worn off for him. I need some new, fairly-simple sound generator that will capture his interest. Please share your ideas.

View attachment 44622

the singing bird water whistles sound nice.

I’m remembering, as a kid, how I so rarely GOT a slide whistle lollipop. Hmm. Now I think that’s one of the most awful noises ever.

I bought a battery-operated “yodeling pickle” for my Quaker, Lucy, thinking she would learn to imitate the yodel and I would have the worlds first one-eyed yodeling parrot. Unfortunately Lucy was afraid of the yodeling pickle and did not learn to imitate it. My chance for fame was lost.

 

[LeeC]

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR ! You could be listening to this whistle for decades, ad nauseum.

Thanks for sharing @wrench13! This is my first minute of interaction with the world today, and it put a big smile on my face. Salty is character, I'm sure.

 

[LeeC]

Jasper likes “parrot the parrot”, too. Where I imitate his vocalizations as close as possible, not always right on but getting the pitch correct.

It seems to make him happy. I figure as long as I’m not imitating an upset noise, but a happy or contented noise, it’s probably good.

Jasper... moody Meyers. Got it. :]

Yes, good point. I only play "parrot the parrot" when Grady is being jovial. It started very early on, when he was the only other living being in my house. The search was already on for a same-species, opposite-sex companion; but, I figured until then, if he needs someone to "talk to", I'm it.

I got recognizably close enough, I suppose, on a bunch of his many, many sounds. Then, he did a particular beep. He paused, waiting for me on my turn. I thought hard for a second, and I just couldn't even begin to make that sound. So, I just said, "Beep" and I chuckled at my own humor. This happened each day at some point, and after just a few days, Grady would make that ultra-challenging beeping sound, then, he would, without pause, say the onomatopoeia "beep"—in my voice—and laugh his Grady laugh (a previous owner's laugh?). I was speechless for a second, then I laughed, too, so he laughed more. Grady. He is something. Parrots are something, huh?

 

[LeeC]

I’m remembering, as a kid, how I so rarely GOT a slide whistle lollipop. Hmm. Now I think that’s one of the most awful noises ever.

I completely forgot about those! I cannot wait to bring that up in a conversation with my sister. :]

I bought a battery-operated “yodeling pickle” for my Quaker, Lucy, thinking she would learn to imitate the yodel and I would have the worlds first one-eyed yodeling parrot. Unfortunately Lucy was afraid of the yodeling pickle and did not learn to imitate it. My chance for fame was lost.

You bought a what?! LOL I guess Greys are notorious for neophobia. I have to be careful how I introduce new things around Grady. He is sometimes afraid of them. He may move away. He may hold fast and growl, as he extends his neck super long. He may, on rare occasion fly at the object to attack, when I am holding it. Grady has full liberty, 24x7x364.25, so I also have to be careful where I put such objects afterwards. I leave the area, and I hear weird thumping, then small boom or crash. "Oh, Grady!" He went after "it" wherever he saw me put "it". Mea culpa.

I love to entertain him, but I never want to scare him.

What happened to Lucy, if I may ask?

 

[LeeC]

I just discovered/realized that Salty is a YouTube star! He is a character—and you've captured it on video, videos. His laugh, I love it.

 

[wrench13]

Thankee Lee. We do trick training almost every night, and Salty knows like 40+ different tricks now, in fact I have to come up with new ones all the time. We started when he was like 9 months old and he is 7 yrs old now, so thousands of training sessions. Most nights he is so eager and happy to do training, running from trick to trick.

 

[LeeC]

Thankee Lee. We do trick training almost every night, and Salty knows like 40+ different tricks now, in fact I have to come up with new ones all the time. We started when he was like 9 months old and he is 7 yrs old now, so thousands of training sessions. Most nights he is so eager and happy to do training, running from trick to trick.

Wow, that is quite impressive, on your part and Salty's. I wish I had taken a little time to try out having just one parrot. I had it in my mind that he needed a fellow parrot, so it was only about a week with just the two of us. Then, I learned that the second parrot was relinquished along with a housemate. "I split up housemates?!" So, I quickly had three parrots. Like anything, it has pros and cons.

What "reinforcers"/treats does he like? What food are you using in this video?

Does it matter if he just ate "a meal"? I have minimal experience with training. I find myself "managing" more so. Is food motivation critical?

 

[wrench13]

We use pine nuts, cut into 3rds or more, and we train every night almost immediately after he has his dinner of Chop, so he is not hungry. He LOVES training, and even more he love learning new tricks. Salty often gets a trick after being shown it once. SO many times, I am amazed at it. I tried to make a video on how to teach a new trick, figuring it would take a few times and I could show the steps involved. He did it in one try, so that was a fail.

 

[Icca]

This a little different than a whistle but consider a drum My birds have all loved the drum. I think it's the steady rhythm. But like everything there's limits, mine seem to like deeper sounds from any type of hand drum. When I started playing for my current buddy I played really softly but now she LOVES it and will stop and start dancing with the beat

 

[LeeC]

This a little different than a whistle but consider a drum My birds have all loved the drum. I think it's the steady rhythm. But like everything there's limits, mine seem to like deeper sounds from any type of hand drum. When I started playing for my current buddy I played really softly but now she LOVES it and will stop and start dancing with the beat

Thanks, @Icca, I had not considered percussion. Grady loves strong tongue "clicks" and lip "pops", so you probably just expanded his world!

 

[Icca]

Thanks, @Icca, I had not considered percussion. Grady loves strong tongue "clicks" and lip "pops", so you probably just expanded his world!

And drumming is just fun!

 

[LeeC]

Amazon thought I should become aware of "steel tongue drums". The name is quite intriguing, but it seems more like a xylophone, than a drum. Grady would probably like a xylophone, actually.

Hey, why don't all Greys come with this kit?!

Grady is in for a treat!

I suppose I should just go all-in.

 

[saxguy64]

No idea if they still make these, but we have one from when our oldest kiddo was little. They can tap/peck the keys on the front or use it traditional xylophone style. None of my birds were interested, but a few of our chickens loved it. Nearly indestructible too. Ours is 25+years old, though never subject to parrot chewing.

 

[Icca]

Amazon thought I should become aware of "steel tongue drums". The name is quite intriguing, but it seems more like a xylophone, than a drum. Grady would probably like a xylophone, actually.

Hey, why don't all Greys come with this kit?!

View attachment 44706

Grady is in for a treat!

I suppose I should just go all-in.
View attachment 44707

That getup definitely needs a parrot on his shoulder