DogsMany people buy a bird because they want to teach it to talk. While the African grey is considered the best talker, there are other types of birds that can learn to talk.
Not all birds learn to talk, even if they are the right breed. I have had a Dwarf Macaw, many budgies, and a cockatiel. Of all those birds, only one of them, a budgie, ever learned to talk. He was very bright and would pick up new phrases in a matter of days. We called him Einstein. He learned “pretty boy,” “what you doing up there,” and several other phrases.
While the African grey is certainly the best talker, Amazon parrots, Quaker parakeets, American budgies, cockatiels, Nanday conures and cockatoos are also great talkers. Lovebirds, most other conure species and Senegal parrots will usually pick up a few phrases fairly rapidly, as well. Cockatiels are better know for copying sounds than talking.
However, no matter what bird species you choose, keep in mind that baby birds need to learn how to talk, just as human babies do. Your bird probably will not already be talking when you buy it. Even those that do learn to talk do not all learn many phrases.
If your sole purpose for owning a bird is to have a talker, you may want to buy an older bird that is already talking. Just be aware that a bird that is already talking may know some phrases that are not family friendly.
Teaching a bird that does not already know to talk is more difficult than teaching a new phrase to a bird that already talks. The reason is that you are teaching a completely new skill. While some people try to use tapes or CDs that repeat phrases over and over again to teach their birds to talk, directly interacting with your birds works much better. That’s what our bird Einstein learned best with.
First, choose a simple word or phrase. Words with the letter ‘r’ in them seem to be especially easy for birds to pick up, which is probably why almost every bird that talks knows the phrase ‘pretty bird’. After you choose a phrase, repeat it to your bird in a clear voice every time you interact with him.
You may begin to notice your bird sitting in a corner of his cage making sounds under his breath. This is a good sign, as it means he is practicing his speech. He will sit there and mutter quietly to himself to try to get the sounds exactly right before he attempts to repeat the word or phrase aloud.
If your bird doesn’t seem interested in listening to you, try speaking in a higher than normal voice. Most birds learn more readily from someone who is not speaking in a deep baritone. Since angry people tend to talk in high, excited voices, someone swearing angrily is especially attractive to birds and they often pick up foul language quite readily, so if you don’t want a bird that talks like he’s in the Navy, be careful what you say around him.
If he does pick up foul language, ignore him completely when he repeats the word and give him plenty of attention when he repeats more acceptable words. Sometimes, this will be enough to break him from using foul language.
If your bird is not picking up any words, you may be tempted to try to teach him to whistle. Cockatiels are great at picking up tunes. Watch the video below to see one that learned to whistle the Andy Griffith Show theme. Be aware that birds that learn to whistle may not be interested in learning to talk. However, they can be quite talented and will learn to whistle entire songs.
You can begin teaching your bird a phrase before he or she is even weaned. If you have chosen a bird that is being handfed by the breeder, you can ask the breeder to repeat a phrase while feeding the baby.