What is the strangest or most memorable thing someone has asked/said about your bird?

[Rico_Tiel]

whether it was during an outing with your bird or showing them pics or having them meet your bird, what is your story?

ill go first:

"why dont you set it free?" - someone on a social media platform after i posted a pic of him (this was an old follower of mine who knew where i was from as i was super open about it) so i had to explain that 1. he would freeze to death in an hour. and 2. captive bred birds cannot survive in the wild as they do not have the knowledge or capability to survive in the wild

"why is your cage so big? my grandma's cage for her parrot looks like this *insert the rustiest most god-awful round cage with a very miserable blue fronted amazon it it* and it's happy!" - a rando who stumbled onto my acc

"where are it's red cheeks?!" - my family friend.

"why dont you clip it? arent you afraid of it flying into a fan or window?" - also my family friend

"can i give it a chip?" - my best friend

and my absolute favorite

"what do you do if it poops on you?" - one of my friends

 

[foxgloveparrot]

I've been asked a TON of weird questions, so here are some of my "favorites":
"When are you going to eat him?" -my partner (with context it makes more sense but it sounds weirder out of context)

"Why do they live in cages? Birds should be FREE!!!" (meanwhile, the birds are flying around the house)

I always get "do they talk", "can they fly", "boy or girl", "how old", "does it bite", "where did you get it" etc

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I've been asked a TON of weird questions, so here are some of my "favorites":
"When are you going to eat him?" -my partner (with context it makes more sense but it sounds weirder out of context)

"Why do they live in cages? Birds should be FREE!!!" (meanwhile, the birds are flying around the house)

I always get "do they talk", "can they fly", "boy or girl", "how old", "does it bite", "where did you get it" etc

OMG I ALWAYS GET THE COMMON QUESTIONS WHENEVR MY FAMILY MEETS HIM-

i've thankfully started to train him out of biting anyone that isnt me or a "hey, not THERE!" type 'warning' that cockatiels give when you dont scritch exactly where they want hah but i have trained him to not step up to anyone unless i give him the okay.
but yes, my cockatiel can technically talk but he does it rarely. the only 2 phrases he will use is "good bird?" or "peekaboo!" though it's more of a bunch of whistles that seems similar to human speech. however, when my family or family friends asks boy or girl, i use my 'bird expertise' (my family's words) and teach them about sexual dimorphism in cockatiels and how males lose their baby bars on their tails and their masks come in, while females keep their bars and typically don't have a mask like males.

also the "birds should be FREE!!11111!!111111!!!1" was HILARIOUS! its like uh but what are they doing? they are flying around happily. well foxglove you are so cruel for letting your birds fly around your house! how dare you let your birds get exercise! and how dare you not let them outside to die or starvation or predators?! you are so cruel and inhumane!!!1!111!!11!!1!

 

[zERo]

Get the usual, does it talk, does it bite.

Most of my relatives ask, strangely, is it an adult? Like is it gonna get any bigger? I guess in there mind there's only big parrots you know the big red one? And of course the blue and yellow, oh and then the green ones too.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

Get the usual, does it talk, does it bite.

Most of my relatives ask, strangely, is it an adult? Like is it gonna get any bigger? I guess in there mind there's only big parrots you know the big red one? And of course the blue and yellow, oh and then the green ones too.

oml- thats actually pretty funny

 

[Rozalka]

I've already written most these quotations in other threads multiple times but I will do it again:

"Have you fed your babies today?" - my friend asking about my hand raised Bourke chicks in the evening
"3 mouths old has to be so small" - somebody after I got Zenek
"Did Zenek grow up?"
"He looks like a cockatiel but without a crest" - somebody about Zenek
"It looks like Zenek! He has a red belly like he!" - my friend about a miligold macaw picture
"More pink bird should be a girl!" - the same friend
"I thought he is a girl because of his voice" - my teacher about Zenek

 

[StormyPica]

I get “do they talk?” and “why can’t you make them talk?” a LOT, but I have also gotten:

“It’s gonna die in 2 years, you know.”
-My aunt said this about Stormy, to that I say: He’s 3 1/2 now, still very healthy and happy and going STRONG!

“How do you manage the poop?”
-A different aunt, when she discovered I free roamed the birds.

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I've already written most these quotations in other threads multiple times but I will do it again:

"Have you fed your babies today?" - my friend asking about my hand raised Bourke chicks in the evening
"3 mouths old has to be so small" - somebody after I got Zenek
"Did Zenek grow up?"
"He looks like a cockatiel but without a crest" - somebody about Zenek
"It looks like Zenek! He has a red belly like he!" - my friend about a miligold macaw picture
"More pink bird should be a girl!" - the same friend
"I thought he is a girl because of his voice" - my teacher about Zenek

HAH! the one about your bourkie is funny! "More pink bird should be a girl" lollll try telling that to male galah and major Mitchell's cockatoos, roseate spoonbills, flamingos, streaked rosefinches, pink robins, scarlet ibises, pink headed fruit doves, anna's hummingbirds, pink headed warblers, white winged crossbills, pine grosbeaks, etc haha

 

[Rico_Tiel]

I get “do they talk?” and “why can’t you make them talk?” a LOT, but I have also gotten:

“It’s gonna die in 2 years, you know.”
-My aunt said this about Stormy, to that I say: He’s 3 1/2 now, still very healthy and happy and going STRONG!

“How do you manage the poop?”
-A different aunt, when she discovered I free roamed the birds.

interesting... do people not know that not all parrots talk? or do they assume they all can?
glad to hear your budgie is almost 4!

 

[Rozalka]

HAH! the one about your bourkie is funny! "More pink bird should be a girl" lollll try telling that to male galah and major Mitchell's cockatoos, roseate spoonbills, flamingos, streaked rosefinches, pink robins, scarlet ibises, pink headed fruit doves, anna's hummingbirds, pink headed warblers, white winged crossbills, pine grosbeaks, etc haha

The context of this what my friend said: She asked me how I difference the Bourkes and I said that Jaś is more intensive pink than others and it was so illogical to her how a male may be more pink than females

 

[StormyPica]

interesting... do people not know that not all parrots talk? or do they assume they all can?
glad to hear your budgie is almost 4!

People seem to think that all parrots want to talk, or if they don’t you can somehow “make” them do it. Like a dog. LOL

 

[HeatherG]

My uncle still tells me you “have to split a bird’s tongue” for it to be able to talk. !!
I pointed out that I’d never split Lucy’s tongue and she could talk very well and even sing a song.
“Well, she would’ve been able to talk better…”

Ack!

“Does he know his name? Does he know what he’s saying? Is he going to get bigger?”
“How much did he cost?” always makes me nervous.

 

[HeatherG]

I've already written most these quotations in other threads multiple times but I will do it again:

"Have you fed your babies today?" - my friend asking about my hand raised Bourke chicks in the evening
"3 mouths old has to be so small" - somebody after I got Zenek
"Did Zenek grow up?"
"He looks like a cockatiel but without a crest" - somebody about Zenek
"It looks like Zenek! He has a red belly like he!" - my friend about a miligold macaw picture
"More pink bird should be a girl!" - the same friend
"I thought he is a girl because of his voice" - my teacher about Zenek

Amazing how so many people can only compare any small parrot to a cockatiel…

I would rather like to have a pink girl Bourkes to match my pretty blue boy Quaker. Yes, I know that’s shallow. But it would be so cute. And maybe poor Willow wouldn’t be terrified of the Bourkes.

 

[StormyPica]

I also get “but budgies aren’t parrots” a lot, so every time I talk about the budgies I start with “fun fact: did you know budgies are parrots?”

Literally everyone says “No I didn’t, that’s interesting.” I’ve never heard a person say “Oh yeah, I knew that.”

 

[HeatherG]

I also get “but budgies aren’t parrots” a lot, so every time I talk about the budgies I start with “fun fact: did you know budgies are parrots?”

Literally everyone says “No I didn’t, that’s interesting.” I’ve never heard a person say “Oh yeah, I knew that.”

you can then point out the hooked bill and zygodactyl toes: this is the main way to ID a parrot.

 

[StormyPica]

you can then point out the hooked bill and zygodactyl toes: this is the main way to ID a parrot.

I don’t know how to pronounce zygodactyl though. I have tried and failed many times LOL

 

[foxgloveparrot]

I don’t know how to pronounce zygodactyl though. I have tried and failed many times LOL

Zie - go- dack - till.
Idk, that's how I pronounce it

 

[Rozalka]

I also get “but budgies aren’t parrots” a lot, so every time I talk about the budgies I start with “fun fact: did you know budgies are parrots?”

Literally everyone says “No I didn’t, that’s interesting.” I’ve never heard a person say “Oh yeah, I knew that.”

I've never heard such thing, probably because budgie in Polish means literally "wavy parakeet", it's one of not many species which have "parrot/parakeet" in their Polish name. But I've got a question "Is it a budgie or just a parrot?" and it was about a canary

In this context I can understand why my friend said "or just a parrot" because it was on German classes and we had to know how is "parrot" and "budgie" in German, so any other parrot kinds didn't matter... but each time when I hear "just a parrot", it sounds like other species don't exist, they're "just parrots" and nothing more...

 

[Rico_Tiel]

The context of this what my friend said: She asked me how I difference the Bourkes and I said that Jaś is more intensive pink than others and it was so illogical to her how a male may be more pink than females

OHHHH still pretty funny though hah

 

[Rico_Tiel]

People seem to think that all parrots want to talk, or if they don’t you can somehow “make” them do it. Like a dog. LOL

WHAT? that is nutty! thank god my family and family friends will listen to the bird-nerd's facts hah