My boy is not a big talker, but he sure is a night bird, something I wish I could get him to chatter more during the day. He is 24, but he hoots, whistles, paco is a pretty boy, what ya doing and growls. He mumbles and says things I can't understand, we have been together 3 years. I love him anyway and we communicate and I love him to pieces.
Try relating items and actions to words. It can take time before they say/relate the words to an item or action, so be patient, but consistent. Parrots are like toddlers learning. You have to teach them how to relate what they say to what things are or what they do.
Example: An item is food, toys, crate, perch, play gym, etc. Say apple (or whatever his favorite fruit is), several times, while holding a piece in front of him. Then give him the apple. Touch his crate & say crate. Move him to his play gym & say the words as you move. Ask him if he wants to go to the play gym. Same with out of cage. Want out. Later play gym & want out can become actions.
An action: wings up or flap wings. Get him to put his wings up or flap & say the words. Step up/down, have him step up onto your hand & step down while saying the words. Dance: bob your head or sway back & forth, while saying the word dance. Play music & do the movements as well. Peek-a-boo. Cover your eyes with your hands, then pull them away while saying pee-a-boo. I also pop back & forth in the doorway & do peek-a-boo. There are many actions you can relate to words they can learn. I find by relating words they tend to talk a bit more.
JaKhu (B&G Macaw) has this thing of standing on her food crock when I want to remove it, or she will stick her head out the food door. To get her out of the way I say perch & she goes to her perch. She relates the word to the action. She knows step up/down & says the words. She also understands when I tell her to remove her ball/etc from her water dish. She likes to stick toys in her water & dunk them & then toss them. She talks & jabbers a lot. I just taught her back up & am working on waving bye-bye. She now knows when I back up my riding mower that means back up & she says it. I'd pull up to the aviary, give her a scritch & then as I was backing the mower up say back up. She caught on in a few mowing sessions. Next I will teach her back up means to move backwards on the floor, play gym, counter, table, etc. To do this I will gently push her backwards while saying the words. My previous macaw knew this as well. Sge nows wings up, roll over, etc. JaKhu says many words & phrases & there are many I don't understand yet. She also jabbers in sentences, which I also don't understand all of.
Jengo (CAG) often goes thru many of her sounds & words in the AM & then is more quiet until mid-late afternoon/early evening. She learned my whistle tune I used for my Purple Martin colony. I'd whistle the tune to let them know I was going to flip crickets for them. Once I heard Jengo do the whistle I said are you calling the birdies. She picked up on that. So now she will say call the birdies & then whistle the tune. She will say call the birdies & I whistle it back to her or she to me. We do this many times a day. She'll say get a shower, when she really wants one. She will say peek-a-boo & wait for me to do it. Jengo also learned when I flip my hand sideways she is to go in her cage.
My previous macaw (JaJaBinks) was good at relating. She'd say hello & when you turned to walk away she'd wave her wing & say bye-bye. She'd scream & scare the kids on Halloween & then laugh at them. She could never sneak anywhere away from her cage tho, as she'd walk along while saying Huh, Huh, what?. It was so funny. She spent a lot of time with me doing daily things, like prepping food, doing laundry, cleaning, etc.. I'd set her on the counter. She'd walk across & get into what I was working on. I'd wave my hand & she'd back up, while saying back up. My favorite thing she'd do is look at food. Any food & ask if it was good. I'd say I don't know try it. She'd take a bite & then make this ummm good sound. Every day we'd her her do this.
There are some birds that talk a lot & others don't. If you talk to your bird during the day relate to him what you are doing to simple phrases.
