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Parrots: Jewels with Wings

© Theresa Pascarella

When people hear the word "parrot," they automatically think of a large, brightly colored jewel of a bird. True, the most typical image we conjure up is that of the macaw, but there's a lot more to the parrot than just a macaw.

Macaws are the most widely recognized parrots, but they are certainly not the only parrots existing in the world today. There are over 270 different species of parrots. They originate from exotic places: rain forests in South America, India and Asia, jungles in Africa and tropical islands around the world. Their names are equally exotic; Eclectus, Caique, Pionus, Conure, Amazon, Senegal, Lories and African Greys, just to name a few. The size range is also impressive; from the Brotogeris to Macaw, parrots' size can vary from 4 inches to 4 feet. All of these birds have one thing in common: intelligence to spare.

Excluding mammals, parrots are thought to be the most intelligent animal on the planet. People who own parrots will brag all day long about the intelligence their bird possesses and really, if it's true, it ain't braggin'. I know, for many years it was general knowledge that parrots were simply mimicking speech patterns when they spoke. It was accepted as fact that they really didn't know what they were saying. But recently, research has proven what we parrot owners already knew: parrots have definite cognitive ability. They can think and reason and communicate readily. By now, we have all heard of the work being done with African Grey parrots (particularly Alex, Dr. Irene Pepperberg's bird). It simply astounds me. Alex has an incredible vocabulary and exhibits an amazing understanding of the spoken word. But other parrots do equally amazing stunts.

Another example of highly developed intelligence came from a macaw who was so determined to sleep with his owners that he learned to open his cage and made his way down the hallway to their bedroom on his own. When the owner bought a combination lock for the bird's cage, the little feathered Einstein simply observed the workings of the lock and when the time came, once again, he flew the coop to enter his master's abode. Finally, they gave up and moved the bird cage into the bed room each night, so the bird (and his master) could rest easy each night.

Our little parrot, a nanday conure, has definitely shown us he understands a lot more than we originally gave him credit for. He talks. We've taught him some tricks, but he's picked up a lot on his own. He said his first word at 3 months of age and there's been no stopping the little chatterbox since then. He answers the phone by saying "hello" along with whoever is talking and he carries on "conversations" right along with you, too. He calls family members by name and he makes sentences, using some words which I know, I never taught him! Not that they are bad words, it's just I know I never consciously tried to teach him this stuff, he picked it up all on his own. He is a large charge of energy and affection, packed into a tiny feathered body.

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