Parrots

[Outdated]

With 57 different species Australia is a land of parrots.

Australian Parrots: Guide to all 57 species of Parrots in Australia

 

[JayLapointe]

Oh wow, I never realized there were that many species in Australia. Oddly I never thought of Australia as parrot country. Typically when I think parrots I think tropical around the equator. Thank you for an interesting new fact.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

Can they all learn to talk?

 

[Masked Man]

I do love birds. I have been trying to figure out how to feed crows so they can bring me presents.

 

[Outdated]

Can they all learn to talk?

Some species are better at this than others but all of them can to some degree.

Common breeds that are kept as pets here are the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and the Galah. (pronounced G'lah, emphasis on second syllable, not like the type of festival called a Gala)

They're also highly intelligent and have a lot of spare time on their hands (wings) so they like to play and can be quite destructive. In the clip below Sulphur Crested Cockatoos have worked out how to open bins and everyone keeps saying that it's because there's food in the bins. I know these birds well, and although food is part of the equation the truth is that doing things like this amuses them, they're very inquisitive and like to play.

 

[Outdated]

I do love birds. I have been trying to figure out how to feed crows so they can bring me presents.

Offer them meat, that's what they eat. They also tend to be very skittish and it will take a long time before they begin to trust you.

 

[Outdated]

 

[Outdated]

Can they all learn to talk?

Sulphur Crested Cockatoos are the best talkers, I grew up next door to one. They always have a ritual of screeching and squawking and dancing up and down as the sun sets and this one was no different, but every night at the end of his carrying on he always finished in a perfectly clear voice "Shut up you silly bird. What's the matter with you?". He also used to imitate June's car not starting on cold mornings.

They're not a pet to be taken lightly though, they live for 85 years and your grandchildren will inherit it.

 

[JayLapointe]

I do love birds. I have been trying to figure out how to feed crows so they can bring me presents.

Honestly if you just go out with some bread and leave it in the same spot each day they will figure it out quick enough and start going back to the spot. Then they will eventually get used to and identify who the source of the food is. After that it's hard to say if you get presents or not. I've had a family of crows in my back yard that i've given food to for decades. Never got any presents myself. But I do have the pleasure of them having set up a nest on my property and hang around. I've got cats as well that will often leave rodents at the door step. Thankfully the crows will take it away.

 

[Outdated]

This video has been given a stupid title, it's a girl living in Sydney that made friends with a flock of cockatoos while she was in covid lockdown.

 

[Angular Chap]

My friend had a parrot many years ago, an African grey I think. He was a real clever lad, figured out how to use the phone! He liked to mimic the ringing and knew how to answer it and say “Hello, how are you?” He could also make aircraft noises and say “jetplane!” and liked to play with a piano tuning fork.

I think it is definitely true about what I heard about pet parrots getting jealous about people around their owners, since if anyone sat next to my friend for too long, he would try to sneak up behind them and peck their ear.

 

[thejuice]

Some species are better at this than others but all of them can to some degree.

Common breeds that are kept as pets here are the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo and the Galah. (pronounced G'lah, emphasis on second syllable, not like the type of festival called a Gala)

They're also highly intelligent and have a lot of spare time on their hands (wings) so they like to play and can be quite destructive. In the clip below Sulphur Crested Cockatoos have worked out how to open bins and everyone keeps saying that it's because there's food in the bins. I know these birds well, and although food is part of the equation the truth is that doing things like this amuses them, they're very inquisitive and like to play.

Yes, I see smart birds like Crows and Ravens on youtube enjoying puzzles. Sometimes they put food inside them too. They are also massive trolls to their owners, I suspect the Cockatoos are similar. Perhaps they have a very rudimentary type of empathy which means they know they're a nuisance, who knows

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

African Gray Parrots can outlive their human partners. When I worked hospice I had a patient with an African Gray. When my patient died, the parrot was very upset and would not let the widow wash his clothes.

 

[Outdated]

I think it is definitely true about what I heard about pet parrots getting jealous about people around their owners, since if anyone sat next to my friend for too long, he would try to sneak up behind them and peck their ear.

That's true for quite a few species. I'm not familiar the African birds but the Sulphur Crest mates for life, and if their partner dies they never take on another partner. If you have one as a pet then emotionally you take on the role of that bird's partner and they can get very jealous.

A Sulphur Crested Cockatoo in captivity has a life expectancy of 85 years but there's plenty of stories of them living for much longer than that.

My great grandmother migrated to Australia in 1913, on the way over the ship stopped in India and there she bought a beautiful Golden Macaw parrot. She still had the bird when I was growing up in the 70s. From being kept in a small cage all it's life it had plucked all of it's own feathers out from boredom and Granny Carter used to knit little cardigans for it. Granny Carter died in 1978 and the bird went to the Adelaide zoo. Zookeepers said the bird was only middle aged, and sure enough once it was in a big enclosure with other birds it grew all of it's feathers back. Not sure how much longer it lived but at 70 years old it was considered middle aged.

Yes, I see smart birds like Crows and Ravens on youtube enjoying puzzles. Sometimes they put food inside them too.

Oh, cockies love puzzles, but those beaks are incredibly powerful and they love chewing things.

We had a pet Galah for a few years. One day it got in to the laundry and chewed through the power cord to the washing machine. It put on one hell of a turn when it got zapped, and for some reason it blamed my brother for that. Ever afterwards it would attack him on sight and we had to find another home for it.

Galah is also an old fashioned insult in Australia. Galahs are usually in large flocks and wheat farmers hate them. They'll land in the middle of a field of wheat and fill their bellies, but they don't leave after that. Once their bellies are full it's time to play and they start snapping off wheat stalks for fun. A big flock of Galahs can level many acres of wheat in just a few hours and they eat only a fraction of that. So to call someone a Galah is to call them a destructive clown.