God makes so many interesting things for us to enjoy.  I am always grateful
to him for that.
----- Original Message -----
From: Phil Scovell <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 6:37 PM
Subject: Real Parrot


> Vinny,
>
> It is a real parrot.  Our Chester makes many of those same souns.  He
> normally doesn't do them on command, however, and that's what makes it so
> interesting.  He could be trained but I'm not that patient.  chester does
> dozens of different whistling noises, a police whistle, about four
different
> tellphone rings that are so real, sometimes we go to the phone.  He cough
> just like we do and it sounds so real, people have actually asked us over
> the phone, who is sick at your house that is coughing like that.  He does
> the exact same high whistle dropping to a low note as the bird on the wave
> file does.  He has done the chimpanzee type sound but not exactly as the
one
> in the file.  He says hello in a couple of different voices; low and high.
> He says, Chester is a good boy, in a low pich like my voice.  He says,
> Chester me loo boo who which is in Sandy's voice.  Me loo, which isn't how
> it is spelled, I'm sure, used to be one of Sandy's pet cats.  Sometimes,
if
> you say, Chester me loo, and leave off the boo who, Chester will finish it
> for you by saying, boo who.  He sneezes just like we do, too.  He says,
step
> up, very clearly because that is what they taught us at the pet store to
say
> when getting him to stepp on to our finger or hand.  He started humming a
> two toned sound the other day for the first time when he heard Sandy walk
by
> and humming.  He does it very softly and but it is amazing to hear him do
> it.  He does a load of clicking and popping sounds.  He used to do a two
> tone high ande low, ding dong, sounds from our front door bell but he
> doesn't do that often any more.  He makes noises like the grandchildren as
> they are squealing in play.  His whistling can be so low, I cannot quite
> reach the low note and so high, I can't reach the high notes and I can
> whistle extremely high.  He will make a sucking kissing sound I taught him
> and that one he sometimes does on command when I say, give me a kiss.  He
> does a perfect wolf whistle, as if he saw a pretty girl, he will say hello
> when he hears our phone ring.  He says, What, because he has picked that
up
> from our two year old grandson who is always saying, what, and he can say
> his name, Chester, of course.  Our cordless phones beep softly when you
> press each button.  It is the same tone for each button.  Chester memicks
it
> exactly and sometimes, for me at least, it gets confusing as you try and
> dial the phone.  African gray parrots love to play.  Chester often hangs
> upside down from his hanging toys in his cage or from the bars of the
cage.
> One day, a friend saw him hanging upside down by one toe wrapped around
one
> bar and he was swinging back and forth like a swing.  That whispering
sound
> the bird made on the wave file?  Chester does that exact same sound, too.
> He blows his nose just like we do, too.  There is another noise he makes
> occasionally when he sees me walking by his cage which I won't describe.
He
> recognizes different people and will make different sounds he associates
> with that person.  He can whistle so loud at times, it hurts your ears.
He
> also laughs and he has a couple of different styles of laughter.  Sandy
has
> a sister with a talking parrot and he can sing the first part of happy
birth
> day.  sandy yells, Quit, or quit it, when the dogs are playing and
barking.
> chester does that, too.  Sandy has this unusual whistle that sounds like
she
> is blowing through a short straw.  We have a 17 year old dog who is almost
> blind and he can't hear well.  sandy will say, Zippy, and do that whistle,
> and clap her hands.  Chester can do all three things extremely well.  He
> also does the clapping and it actually sounds like a little child clapping

> his hands.  He yells, Zippy, too.  I was in the bathroom yesterday and the
> dogs got to playing and barking and running around.  Chester started
> whistling and making other loud sounds to get them to stop but he started
> that clapping noise because he has heard sandy and I clap our hands to get
> the dogs to stop and listen.  Chester is only about two years old so he
has
> a long ways to go in his 50 to 80 year life and a lot more sounds to
learn.
> My son and daughter in law's parrot meows like their cat and it is super
> real sounding.  She laughs like my daughter in law, too.  chester also
makes
> a sound like someone knocking on the door.  He makes a squeaking sound
like
> the door opening and closing.  We fixed that door squeaking a few months
ago
> so he doesn't do that sound much any more.  I have heard him churping just
> like a robin before, too, when it was that time of the season when the
> robins were around.  Sometimes he makes a weird low grinding sound which
we
> think is his imitation of our coffee grinder.  We let him out of the cage
> almost each day at noon.  He sits on his cage and plays around because
there
> is a play ground mounted on top of his cage that he can climb around on.
> some days, he climbs down, jumps down to the floor when he gets low
enough,
> and runs over to the kitchen where Sandy is sometimes still cooking.  We
> have a very tall baby gate in the door way to keep the dogs and child out
of
> the kitchen when need be.  the dogs are put up during lunch so Chester is
in
> no danger.  He climbs up the closed baby gate and sits on top and watches
> Sandy.  We feed him table scraps for treats during each meal by placing it
> in one of his extra bowls and putting it in his cage.  Parrot eat almost
> anything.  He gets regular seeds and special parrot food, too, so he can
get
> good nutrition.  Today, I went to lock his cage after lunch?  He was
inside,
> eating his snack food, or the table scraps we gave him, and he had closed
> the door and turn the handle to keep the gate closed.  You have to have a
> lock because parrots will spends hours trying to figure out the lock and
> they often do figure it out, too.  Our bird is a mail and my son's is a
> female.  She is a little smaller.  You have to pay 30 bucks to do a DNA
test
> to determin their sex.  You have to trim their wings ever so often and
trim
> their toe nails.  they get really cocky and start biting a lot harder if
you
> don't.  They are often a one person bird, or at least, they end up
favoring
> one person in the family over another.  I handle him all the time and I
have
> learned, when he is about ready to bite harder than other times, so I pull
> my fingers out of the way.  He thinks it is funny to bite hard and hear
> people yell so I try not to react but sometimes, you can't help it.
Chester
> especially bites way harder if he is hanging upside down and you let him
> nibble on a finger.  He also has this terrible habit of steping on to your
> fingers, when you poke them into the cage through the bars, and once he is
> standing on your fingers, he bends over and bites your finger he is
standing
> on twice as hard.  One day he was hanging upside down in the cage and we
> heard this big crash.  I asked the grandchildren what happen.  They said
> that Chester had been hanging upside down and fell to the bottom of the
> cage.  His entire cage is taller than I am and I am 5 foot seven.  I was
> afraid he may have gotten hurt but the kids said he was standing on his
> feet, that is, he landed on his feet.  He has done this now, more than
once,
> so it is something he thinks is fun I guess.  The other day, I was playing
> with him through the bars and I touched one of his feet.  Something looked
> odd so I checked his foot a little closer.  He had two toes wrapped around
> one way and the third toe wrapped around the same bar the opposite way.
All
> their sounds are made from their especially designed larynx.  they do not
> use their tongue to produce the noises.  Chester will often sit,
especially
> first thing in the morning and sometimes during the mid afternoon and
> sometimes during a time in the evening, and run through dozens of sounds
for
> no reason.  If I awaken early, too early to be up, I sometimes go out and
> lay on the couch.  Some where around 6 to 7 o'clock, Chester wakes up.  I
> have often pretended to be asleep.  He will make very soft sounds to see
if
> I answer.  If I don't, he normally stops.  when I get up for the morning,
he
> will start chirping and clicking and running through his other sounds he
> knows.  They claim African Gray Parrots, when fully developed, have a mind
> of a 4 year old child.  We got him when he was three months old and was
just
> weaned.  When playing with him outside, and even inside, the cage, I have
> learned some soft little sounds he makes, which I am assuming is related
to
> when associating with female parrots, and one of the sounds he makes, when
I
> do it, he will stop biting me as long as I make that sound with my tongue.
> He has another sound he makes, which I cannot even remotely describe, that
> he makes once he starts acting happy.  they do a lot of moving and walking
> around and they love playing by themselves.  He also makes a truck horn
> noise.  He got that sound from my grandson who got one of those C O 2
little
> canisters you can buy that people often use at ball games because they are
> so loud.  Chester sounds exactly like it, too.  He barks just like one of
> our miniature pinchers and he makes the same sounds the same dog makes
when
> he is whining.  It is so real, I have left my office and walk across the
> house and into the living room to see if anything was wrong with the dog.
> He stays quite, for the most part, when people come over for prayer and
for
> church and at night, he easily goes to sleep and gets quite so you don't
> hear him during the night.  They sleep by standing on one leg and the
other
> leg pulled up under their body in perfect balance.  If you disturb them,
> they come out of that stance suddenly and make a fast fluttering sound.  I
> haven't read about this, although I have searched for it on the net, but I
> believe it is a defensive thing they do to scare off predators.  Their
> single leg sleep stance probably creates a super sensitive balance and if
> that balance is disturbed for any reason, they instantly come out of it.
I
> know I have left out lots of other things he can do but they are one of
the
> most interesting pets I have ever seen.  Sandy does most of his care,
> including cleaning the cage and feeding him, and I just play with him.  He
> broke his cage lock by the way, so now we have a thick chain running
around
> the bars of the gate and cage with a padlock keeping it secure.  He still
> screws with the chain and the lock trying to defeat its purpose.  Now,
> there's more than you need to know about talking parrots.  No, not all
> parrots talk.  Those that do, cost a lot more money.  How much do they
cost?
> I hate to say.  If they are hand fed from the breeder, and guaranteed to
> talk, they generally cost more.  You should never buy one from the
> classified paper ads.  One reason is, you never know what he has been
taught
> to say.  Could be embarrassing, if you know what I mean.  We paid 1200
> dollars for him and almost 500 dollars for the cage.  Yep, that is
> ridiculous but as I said, I have never had a pet I enjoy more.  why?
There
> is always somebody to talk to, haw.
>
> Phil.