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Sleepy voice?

Tazlima

Jogging around the block
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Something I've noticed with my quaker is that his squawk changes when he's tired.

It's not that he's making a different vocalization (although he also has a separate "you woke me up, go away" noise). It's the same squawk, only ever so slightly screechier, like he has to work harder than usual to produce the sound.

You know how someone exercising and counting reps out loud - for example pullups - may do the 1st one pretty easily, but by the last one, they're straining and you can hear it in their voice? Sort of like that.

I can literally tell from his voice if he's just normal cranky, or over-tired and in need of a nap.

Just curious if this is a Gus thing or a quaker thing (Gus is the only quaker in the house, and I don't hear a similar "tired timbre" from the grey or the tiels).

Can you tell your bird's physical/mental state from slight differences in how they produce the same sound?
 

cnyguy

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Ralph's squawks are fairly uniform, unless he's demanding my attention and not getting it soon enough. When that's happening, the squawks get progressively louder until I finally show up to see what he wants. When Ralph is really tired he switches from squawks to the clicking sounds he likes to make. If he's really sleepy, I get the uhhnh sound, which I translate as "Go away, I'm trying to sleep."
 

Tazlima

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If he's really sleepy, I get the uhhnh sound, which I translate as "Go away, I'm trying to sleep."
Gus does the "uhhnh" sound too! He wasn't raised around other quakers, and his calls mostly don't sound anything like the wild quakers in our area (his alarm call is similar, but his squawks are totally different).

Now I'm wondering if the "uhhnh" is an universal quaker noise, and if nighttime disturbances to the nest are met with a chorus of "uhhnhs". That's gotta be adorable!
 

cnyguy

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I would guess that uhhnh probably is part of the native QP language. Ralph has never heard a similar sound from me that he could imitate. There's also the ehhhh sound he uses when he's tired of whatever game we've been playing. I interpret that as "I'm tired of this. Let's do something else." :D
 

Tazlima

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I would guess that uhhnh probably is part of the native QP language. Ralph has never heard a similar sound from me that he could imitate. There's also the ehhhh sound he uses when he's tired of whatever game we've been playing. I interpret that as "I'm tired of this. Let's do something else." :D
Aw, that sounds so cute! Gus doesn't do "ehhhh", so that may be a Ralphism.
 
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