Research: Are birds trying to tell us things?

[katty]

more:
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1142941149417&call_pageid=970599119419

Are birds trying to tell us things?
Owner spends years deciphering budgie's `words'

Research does suggest birds have cognitive ability
Mar. 23, 2006. 01:00 AM
ELVIRA CORDILEONE
STAFF REPORTER

Ryan Reynolds is a psittalinguist — a person who interprets budgie-speak.

Since 1999, he has invested thousands of hours slowing down and deconstructing recordings of his beloved budgie, Victor, who died five years ago at the young age of 3, as well as other talking budgies.

Victor had a vocabulary of 1,000 words, which he used in context, Reynolds says.

Reynolds, founder of The Budgie Research Group, later reached out to others with talking budgies, hoping to share information. To describe their work, they coined the term psittalinguistics, from psittacidae, or the parrot family.

So what are budgies saying?

[Olney Blue]

1. Buck Fush

[Orrex]

2. "It's the plumber. He's come to fix the sink."

[spuddonna]

8. LOL! That's one of my favorites! :)

I need to buy that new Electric Company dvd... :) Too many awesome bits that I have to show my kids!

[Faygo Kid]

3. Of course we are dinosaurs, you fools.

[IsItJustMe]

4. Yeah it is. Get the fricken chickens out of your house. They don't

belong there.

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. As long as it's not

"Thanks for all the cuttle fish"

[Jaundice James]

6. "Here, kitty kittty kitty... Sick 'em Rex!" n/t

[NV Whino]

7. Wow, guess all that talking

wore out poor little Victor.

[Mojorabbit]

9. Have you seen the research with Alex the african grey?

There were some articles out a while back saying parrots may be sentient. My african grey uses language in context. It is eerie.

[pitohui]

10. my best budgie had pretty good english

but all he talked abt was food, sex, and how pretty he was

so this dude's budgie is into the higher spiritual things?

you do have to slow down your own speech when training them because they speed it up and i guess recording to slow down what they say and listen at slow speed later is okay but when my pretty bird wanted a damn cracker he wanted it now and not after the playback!