cracking the cockatoo translation matrix

[HolliDaze]

@cassiesdad you'll have to excuse me for cofounding a thread with you... Without asking first
I would absolutely love to know what Dexter is trying to say to me... If you liked my tantrum video, here's him just talking to me:

This video was back in december, I was trying to get him to come down and play with his goodies. I know at one point he says video "I don't want them"
In this one he's "singing" and being a general goofball

What do you guys think he's saying? Do you get any words out of this?

 

[cassiesdad]

He is trying to communicate with you! I'm going to study these videos and see what I think...

 

[Hjarta5]

Dexter is so adorable What a character!

 

[EllaMay]

Whitney my U2 would say alot but many things I could not understand but I would be talking to my mother on the phone and she would understand alot what Whitney was stating, it was funny I couldn't pick them out until she told me that is what she was stating.

With Ella she is so plain when she talks it is easy with Whitney I could not.

Dexter is just adorable! First video I thought he stated "Funny Funny Bird" towards the beginning of the vid. Ella, babe and Daisy are talking back while listening to the vid, interesting.

 

[Sweet Louise]

So very cute. Very clear he loves interacting with you. Louise will imitate the tempo and sounds of conversation, it sounds like she is trying to say something, and sometimes she does. Most times I think she is just trying to interact using human sounds and tempo. Cockatoos seem to much more vocal and interactive so maybe his speech will become more clear with time. If not, then he is just trying to interact with you in your language bird style.

 

[HolliDaze]

So very cute. Very clear he loves interacting with you. Louise will imitate the tempo and sounds of conversation, it sounds like she is trying to say something, and sometimes she does. Most times I think she is just trying to interact using human sounds and tempo. Cockatoos seem to much more vocal and interactive so maybe his speech will become more clear with time. If not, then he is just trying to interact with you in your language bird style.

I just recently realized that, when people ask me "does he talk" and I answer "parrots learn to talk a lot like human babies, they mumble and "baby talk" before they say intelligible words, but cockatoo s only learn a few in their lifetime " that I'm sorta wrong! Cockatoo constantly talk, 95% of his noises are the "gibberish"that you see in the videos. I just didn't listen closely enough! I'm going to start telling people he knows tons of words, I'm just lousy at figuring out what he's trying to say. I didn't get a 'too because I wanted to show people with his ability to say tons of words, after all!

 

[JLcribber]

Its not so much the actual words because cockatoos really aren't the best talkers. It's the actions that go with the words. What you will notice in the first video is that he is just babbling but he's doing it exactly like you (sorry .). Same tone, inflection, just doesn't have the words down. So hes doing a pretty good mimic job.


Video 2 is just happy Too noise.

 

[Dartman]

Lurch used to sound like a drunken pirate and had words that sounded foreign like Chaco mall and crowd like noises. He could also speak quite clearly when he felt like making a point or was surprising me with a new one. He was a Maxi Pionus and they aren't known to be big or clear talkers either but he sure liked to try.

 

[ThePeepingEgg]

I'm watching Dexter and I'm thinking "a Too is what's still missing in my house of crazies" Dexter looks like me as a kid...couldn't sit still and couldn't stop babbling either. Maybe I was a Too in my previous life?

 

[MagpieDragon]

I just wanna say that Dexter looks (and sounds!) absolutely gorgeous! You've got one very lucky 'too

 

[TikiMyn]

At around 30 seconds in the first video it sounds like he js saying I pretty pretty bird! I love Dexter, those videos are amazing!

 

[DQTimnehs]

At around 30 seconds in the first video it sounds like he js saying I pretty pretty bird! I love Dexter, those videos are amazing!

I got that too the first time I watched it. Also "vegetable" is in there after Machelle says it.

 

[cassiesdad]

The first video does show Dexter trying to repeat words that you're saying...like John said, it's the action that's tied to the vocalization that you're looking for. Dex will get the two concepts together...then the fun begins!
That's why it's so important to KEEP TALKING TO HIM! Mimicking your words is the first step...tying the word to an object or action is the harder part.
You see that part when Dr. Pepperberg worked with Alex...she showed Alex the object that went with the word, such as "truck".

I also notice that Dex sounds a lot like Max and Gotcha (of internet fame) in that they repeat words in a buzzy, robotic tone. Milty does the same...the robotic voice. Maybe the bird begins repeating the vocalizations with the buzzy noise because it's easy to do so...or maybe that's how they hear the word. I've always wondered why birds don't suffer from hearing loss...after all, they have to hear their own screams...some of them rated at 110 decibels.

Oh yes, the video with Dex and the fan...hilarious! Milty does the same head movements in front of the fans...he also will pace back and forth as the fans does the same...

 

[Nancy B]

I have to listen more intently. I miss all that! I imagine like kids learning to talk probably a challenge to understand. I have to think back to when my son was learning to talk!

 

[Lwalker]

At around 30 seconds in the first video it sounds like he js saying I pretty pretty bird! I love Dexter, those videos are amazing!

I also thought he said "I'm a pretty, pretty bird."

 

[Dartman]

Of course he did, maybe it's one of their things about themselves as Milty sure says it a lot. I remember listening to a budgie or some sort of parrot talking and I picked out words and phrases the poster didn't hear as we all listen differently and pick up different things. It's like the gibberish we say as kids trying to sound like a language we don't understand and he's doing it till he picks up real words clearly enough for us to understand and him to be happy with. Lurch used to practice his favorites in many different intonations playing with the word. He used to say EYYEEELEUVEYOU which I think was him trying to say I love you or just playing with it till he got it right. It took me a long time to figure out what he was trying to say with that one and when I did it made me pretty happy that he was trying to say that to us.

 

[CrazyBirdChick]

I've always wondered why birds don't suffer from hearing loss...after all, they have to hear their own screams...some of them rated at 110 decibels.

The parrot wizard recently posted a video saying that a bird's hearing is actually not that great because their ears are muffled by feathers. I'm not sure how true that is but I thought it was interesting.

 

[HolliDaze]

Dexter made me crack up today. Yes and a wooden ball and was trying to get up in my bed. He was struggling, so I helped him up so he could take the ball with him. after I said "yay!" He did too, dropping the ball off my bed xD

 

[cassiesdad]

The parrot wizard recently posted a video saying that a bird's hearing is actually not that great because their ears are muffled by feathers.

That might provide an explanation why birds don't seem to be affected by their own calls...and why they hear us talking in a "fuzzy" or muffled way...they are repeating what they hear...

Dexter made me crack up today. Yes and a wooden ball and was trying to get up in my bed. He was struggling, so I helped him up so he could take the ball with him. after I said "yay!" He did too, dropping the ball off my bed xD

You have a very special bird there...

 

[cassiesdad]

Of course he did, maybe it's one of their things about themselves as Milty sure says it a lot.

"PRETTY PRETTY BIRD" are Milton's most often repeated words...it was the first thing we heard him say...on the way home from the rescue seven years ago...