#vocalization ask

[flock-talk]

Not dumb at all! It’s a mix of body language, context, and vocal tone! @rorindiel

In that video the scream is a consistent pattern of slow spaced out repetitive screams. It’s a little hard to see in that clip but Newts side to side swaying/ jolty motion is a behaviour for being excited, both birds are thin but not outright skinnied out, and they bounce back and forth on where they’re looking.

If they were screaming out of fear we’d see super thin body language, the wings usually look like they’re being held away from the body a bit, as well as them fixating on the particular thing that’s triggering them and the scream is typically a very loud repetitive screech that runs in super quick succession. In most cases this is followed by flying away at high speeds but not always.

Then you’d have contact call screams which are typically one or two short shouts where the other bird responds with virtually the same sound. With these body language can vary but it’s usually decently relaxed (unless the bird is anxious and panicked trying to find its friend). Newt is nice and fluffed up and looking around but not overly worried.

Of course different species have different calls but that’s some bare bones stuff to consider!

[flock-talk]

Hey! Mia and Zeeby have their adorable names.... ever wonder what they've named you?? Would you rather be a birb for a day and checkout everything or have m&z be people you can chat to for a day????

that is actually a really interesting question, since studies have found that parrotlets do give proper names to their young it is entirely possible that they may have enough of a developed language to name things and people in their environment as well.  Whether they create a name or just use descriptors like “big thing” we may never know but it is certainly an interesting thought!  Since it seems to be thought that the contact calls vary slightly which signifies the name of the bird (equivalent of me going “hey Joe!, Joe!”) I guess that makes this my name:

From this point onwards I shall be knows as ‘PEEP’

Of course since we don’t know a whole lot about this language yet unique contact calls could just be a thing that’s assigned from parents to young in which case this may just be ‘hey, hey you’ rather than an actual name.  Very interesting thought, hopefully science will unravel some more amazing details about avian language and we’ll have a proper answer!

As for your second question I’d rather be a bird for a day, I imagine having the mind of a primitive child in a human body could be quite disastrous and the birds wouldn’t really get much out of the experience other than confusion.  If I were to be turned in to a bird I imagine I’d be able to get more out of it since my mind is more.. evolved. Rather than spending the whole time staring at fingers going ‘OOoo’ I imagine I’d be able to adjust and try to experience more of bird life! Plus I really want to know what it feels like to get scritches, birds just look way too comfortable that has to be a very euphoric sensation and I want in.

[flock-talk]

What would you say the percentage is for a parrotlet's talking ability? I'm just curious. Does talking come easy for it?

Males are more likely to talk than females are, I don’t really think I can offer a percentage as it is super variable and it’s really more dependent on you than anything.  Birds can be taught to mimic and speak on cue through reinforcement and their success in mimicry will come from the trainer’s ability to reinforce the correct behaviours.  Largely most parrotlets won’t talk on their own but given the correct reinforcers at the right times a lot of them very likely could (as with any species).  There are a lot of birds who can learn to talk independently a lot better than parrotlets but there’s also a lot of individuals who can become very talkative.  In general their vocalization isn’t great, it’s super raspy and you really have to know what’s being said to understand it. 

Zeeby’s a female but she did learn minimal mimicry all on her own, every time I came to work I’d give her a kiss and eventually she associated the happiness she experienced when I showed up with that kiss sound so she just started doing it on her own one day.  In the past she’s made attempts at words, she’ll click to consonants and has tried to say ‘tickle tickle’ in the past but it never really stuck because it just wasn’t reinforcing enough for her.  There’s really a lot of variables that go in to teaching a bird to talk and a lot more of it is dependent on the trainer and their ability to make the action of mimicry desirable than anything else.  

Overall I’d say they’re not the best, they pick up a couple words here and there and their sounds aren’t all that clear but there are definitely some individual parrotlets that are going to be much more vocal than others.

[flock-talk]

What does it mean when a parrotlet gently growls at you by your shoulder when they fly up to you? My female does this daily when getting her up from her sleep cage but also when she wants to follow me and sometimes gives me a kiss on the cheek or lips at times.

If the behaviour you’re talking about is sort of like this (turning up the volume you can hear the grumbly sound as she grabs my hair), I’ve found that vocalization to be exclusive to social preening behaviours or an affectionate noise. 

There are different tones which are louder and deeper that tend to be associated with anger or argument, typically heard in situations where they fight over who gets to preen who. This is the closest example of that I have, in this case she’s making the aggressive sound in an attempt to scare away paper towel monsters.

There’s another tone similar that sounds more like a ‘merp’, it’s a short grumbly tone that tends to be associated with overstimulation and can be a precursor to an act of aggression.  I don’t have a video example of this, other body language that can be shown with it is a short hop, wing ‘shoulders’ being pulled away from the body and a lower stance.

[flock-talk]

Just saw the video of the beebs carving a pumpkin with you and it was super cute! Looks like they had a lot of fun. Curious question: I think I remember reading that parrotlets are quieter birds than others so I wonder what their peeps are for? Communication, for fun, or something else?

Really a mixture, in the video at 1:36 the loud chirps are Mia being a bit hyper and contact calling Zee, Mia had just left the pumpkin as it had scared her and this was a sort of “hey, hey, hey.. why are you still over there? aren’t you leaving, that thing is scary? let’s get out of here, come on”. That quiets down as she evaluates the situation a bit more off screen, i cut out a bit where she cheeps at me to get my attention to recall and slowly explore the pumpkin, then they both start chomping down in silence enjoying the experience. The ones happening around 2:44 are more just social chirps “whoops I slid down this, I’m behind you and not a threat, I won’t take your food” sorts of things. The ones from 4:00 onwards are sleepy chirps, it’s pretty much them contacting one another saying it’s time for bed.  This is sort of anthropomorphizing the situation a bit, obviously I can’t know what they’re saying but that’s the sort of context they’re in anyways. Most of the time parrotlet vocalizations will dominantly be for communication, they don’t scream for fun like a lot of other birds will, they do have some time during the day where they chirp a lot and fly around but it’s definitely not like what you’d experience with a cockatoo.

[flock-talk]

Hi! Do your little beebs make noises based on emotions? I have a young parrotlet and when we recall train and he lands successfully on my hand, he'll make a little squeal! He also does it when he sees food sometimes. Before I keep thinking it is cute and encouraging it, this is a good behavior, right? PS, I love your blog, you are so informative and encouraging, thank you for all you do!

Parrots do have a language of sorts, they even have names for one another as concluded by a study done on green rumped parrotlets.  Different chirps mean different things, same as different words and tones mean different things to us.  They will present some chirps when they’re excited or happy, others while they’re agitated or mad and a different tone when they’re sleepy.  My birds don’t make a ‘squeal’ as you’ve described when they’re happy, they’ll make a sort of ‘merp’ when agitated or overstimulated, repetitive short bursts of high notes when they’re fighting or mad, soft trills and squeaks when they’re tired, grumbly sounds when they’re content, a loud, precise chirp when upset or ‘hurt’, general happiness may be one medium-toned, short chirp and hyper moments are commonly filled with very loud calls while flying in circles around the room.