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How many of your Pionus talk?

Elysian

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Disclaimer: I KNOW you should not get a bird because you want it to talk :) I have two male budgies and pretty sure I'll never get a word out of them.. love them to bits anyway.
But I'm curious.

I want a Pionus (eventually, not right now) but they don't seem to be very common in my area. I recently ran into a BH at an exotics shop (they even said they don't see them often)... and I had to pass him up because I am not prepared yet. It was very hard since I don't know when another one will pop up. It was even *harder* because when I laid eyes on him (5 months old) he immediately moved over close to me, put his foot up toward me, and said "Hi!".
He was the only bird I've looked at that I felt a 'spark' with, and I'm so sad.

But anyway - Now I'm wondering if he was extra super special for talking already, too? How common is it for a 5 month old Pionus to be saying Hi?
How many of yours have learned to talk at all?
 

tka

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Pionus aren't renowned for their talking ability. Males may learn a few words. Females are unlikely to talk.

My girl doesn't talk but I'm doing my best to learn Pionus. Sometimes she, my partner and I all end up beeping and clucking at each other - she beeps, we beep back, she beeps in response. The humans at least don't always notice we're doing it because it's become so automatic, but when we do notice it's just "cool, cool, guess this is our lives now". My partner and I have also started beeping at each other so all in all, things are all extremely normal here :laughing2:
 

Fuzzy

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Awwww sorry you couldn't get the the BH Pi you met in the shop. Kobe (male BH) has quite a big vocabulary and started very young - must have been around 5 months too. He arrived saying "kiss kiss" at 4.5 months which I initially thought was "couscous". :laugh: This is a raucous (turn the sound down!) morning video of him saying a few things:


He seems to say stuff in context too - like "yum yum" when I show him his treat container, and he used to say "thank you very much" when I gave him a nut, but he seems to have forgotten that a lot of the time! If I drink tea it's "very, very hot!". He calls his food bowl "munch" and I sometimes wonder if he uses the word to tell me he's hungry.
 

Dartman

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Nerd spoke wild Pionus and I spoke it back, we understood each other perfectly. Lurch came to me already speaking and continued to learn new words till he escaped about 8 years after I got him:( He said good morning baby boy, hi, hello, rupear, Chaco ail, eyeeluveyou, etc. Dobby says I'm Dobby, hi Dobby, Dobby? Good bird, hello and I'm sure some he has chosen not to say yet. They sometimes are very clear but mostly sound like drunken pirates. Nerd also knew his name, had a name for me, and a bird name for himself.
 

finchly

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Angel has a wild string of talk she does when I feed her. Will try to get a video.

Ernie has only a few words. However we understand each other perfectly, I think I’ve learned his signals.

Both of mine came to me as older birds. If I had a baby Pi it would be talked to constantly in hopes it’d pick up a vocabulary.
 

Nostromo

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My girl does not talk English, but she certainly chatters in her Pionese all day long... ribbets and squeaks and oinks. Sometimes she'll fly to a random part of our house and we have to play Marco Polo to find her, following the soft oinks she makes as she marches around investigating some new corner.
 

tka

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Sometimes she'll fly to a random part of our house and we have to play Marco Polo to find her, following the soft oinks she makes as she marches around investigating some new corner.
We play the same game! Only with beeps rather than oinks.

It's amazing how many different sounds they can make: clucks and squeaks and beeps and warbles and yells and mumbles and mutters and oinks. They are very chatty in their own way :)
 

Elysian

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Thank you for all the replies!
Sounds like there is a good chance if I ever encounter another young one like that, it could learn to talk t0o. I would love to rescue but I doubt a Pionus will ever show up in our shelter.

I'm still fighting my urge to message the shop owner and ask if that baby is still there!! :(

I could handle it financially, but I do not have a good "quarantine area" set up right now.. he would have to go in my bedroom instead of his own bedroom which is currently occupied by a human guest :(
Also my budgies are still only 6 months old and haven't gone through puberty yet, I guess a good bird mom would wait for all that to pass before throwing in new siblings :D
 
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Ali

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Where are you? We get pionus' show up in rescues here. It's rare, but it happens.
 

Elysian

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I'm near Kansas City Missouri. You would think a big city would have more species but we only have two shelters that take in birds and after watching their rotation for a couple of years, I never would have known that Pionus existed. Just Macaws, naked 'toos, Amazons, tiels, and Budgies.
Once in every little while a single senegal, conure, or quaker.

And for some reason a bunch of racing pigeons.
 

Ali

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I'm near Kansas City Missouri. You would think a big city would have more species but we only have two shelters that take in birds and after watching their rotation for a couple of years, I never would have known that Pionus existed. Just Macaws, naked 'toos, Amazons, tiels, and Budgies.
Once in every little while a single senegal, conure, or quaker.
Maybe contact them? They might know of a pionus that needs a home. They don't always post all the birds they have
 

Elysian

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Well I contacted the shop just to stop torturing myself - little guy sold. That's good :) I hope he never turns up homeless.

I am trying to arrange to volunteer at one of the bird rescues (that way I would get to see what they actually have and get more larger bird experience) but they have shut down all volunteer programs for the foreseeable future due to covid.
Just kind of hanging in limbo knowing what I want to do but not being able to prep for it. At least the budgies get plenty of attention :)
 

Kiwi & Co.

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And for some reason a bunch of racing pigeons.
Good thing I don't live nearby :lol:

I would have rescue pigeons roaming aound the house all the time :roflmao:
 
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