Having just heard Ludvig go through his morning repertoire, I wondered yet again what the first person to hear a parrot talk must have thought – or perhaps, what havoc a parrot may have caused on a ship the first time if a crew was unprepared for the mimicking and mischief a parrot, well, Ludvig, can cause.
I can imagine a parrot repeating orders, no doubt at inappropriate times, making noises like sails ripping to give the sailors cause for concern, shouting ‘land ahoy’ randomly… and I can also imagine the sailors wondering what’s going on.
I can’t count the number of times Ludvig has caught us out by mimicking a cat or currently Percy, being trapped in a room and had us heading off to find out what’s happening. If Pixie or Wilbur bark, Ludvig will call their name and tell them off – and if Pixie hasn’t barked, Ludvig will mimic her barking and then tell her off for good measure.
He also says things at the right time, for example he will say ‘see you later, alligator’ when I say good night to him in the evening, and he’ll creak like the doors when a door opens (which was confusing after Ian had oiled the doors and they kept on creaking!).
I’m surprised also at the things he doesn’t mimic. We have a whistling kettle, and I would have thought that would have been a perfect thing for him, but he pretty much ignores it (perhaps there’s no challenge to whistling).
I’m not sure how big his repertoire is now, but he does seem to enjoy learning new things. Interestingly, counting hasn’t been a great success. He quite often freeforms through the numbers, sometimes getting stuck on a particular number for a while. I’ve been trying to teach him to count, by clicking a certain number of times and then saying the number. One – three were ok, but I don’t think he’s ever connected the number of clicks to the word.
The things he seems to enjoy most are songs, so I wonder if perhaps I taught him to sing the numbers he might get on better – but then he would be repeating and not counting, so perhaps more patience is required (me, not him 😉 ).
Apparently there are two type of African Grey, those who enjoy playing and those that enjoy talking. Given that the lovely toys we make for Ludvig sit, ignored in his cage while he quietly (or not so quietly) mutters to himself, I think we know which type he is!
