What has your bird done to show how smart he is?

[Dot]

Alternate Title: Which of your birds is the smartest?

Everyone says Leroy (YNA) is so smart, but it is Fergie (Scarlet) who really is the smart one. Today she had to go to the vet's to have her nares flushed. The vet said that as they drained the saline (I guess that is what it is) in the nare, she was blowing it out! :eek:


They used to have trouble getting Fergie out of the huge dog carrier I use. I heard the vet's assistant laughing one day, so I stuck my head in the door. She was holding the carrier upside down and trying to shake/ dump Fergie out of it. Seems that when they open the front door to the carrier, Fergie holds on to the bars on the side with her beak and talons and they can't get her out. :haha:


Once long ago I heard flaps, then talon on floor noises, then flaps, then laughter. Fergie had escaped from the carrier, gotten to the floor, took a few steps, got airborne, flew to the top of the cabinet, turned around, and dumped on her chart! That's my girl. :p


Now they completely take the carrier apart to get Fergie out. They said the first time they did that, they lifted the top off and Fergie had the funniest look on her face, like "What have they done and where can I hide?" :confused: Each time they find a way to get her out of the carrier, she finds a counter move. After lifting the lid, they slid a towel over her the past two times. This time she was ready for them and stepped on the towel. The vet says that she is amazing. She remembers their last trick and counters it.

Below I have listed some of the things she has said in context that just blow me away.

What has your bird done (like the too someone posted about making the tool to hit something) or what has it said that shows his intelligence. And if you have more than one bird, is one smarter than the others?


27. “I said, ‘I love you.’” She said this after being put in jail for flying to Tommie’s cage. It was as if she thought saying “I love you” would make up for being bad.

29. “I said, ‘I’m sorry.’” She said this after being taken to back bedroom because of going to Tommie’s cage


47. “Get over it!” said after I told her I don’t like to be bitten

48. Fergie would crawl down the cage and twist my nose. I would tell her, “I’ll bite you back." After 2 or 3 days of my telling her that one night it went like this:
Dot: I'll bite you back.
Fergie: I said, "Don't bite."

73. I love up. After a time out. She had repeatedly requested “Up” while in jail. When I finally got her, she said, “I love up.”

75. I love go night night with mama. She said this after her 2nd two hour nap. The first one was about 5 days ago. Today when I got up from my chair at 12:15 she said “Wanna go night night with mama” and repeated it several times. She also said “Up” and offered me that big foot. After we got up, I put her in her cage and told her to go pooh pooh, which she did. She then announced, “I love go night night with mama.” There is no doubt that she wanted to go night night and knew what she was saying.

94. Feb. 25, ’03 Tommie was leaving the room and I was saying, “Don’t leave, Tommie. Do not leave the room. No.” Fergie added, “Come back, Tommie.”

[too&me]

Not nearly as impressive as your story but it did just happen today. My daughter & I were playing Marco Polo answering each other thinking Harry might want to play. I walked over to his cage & said Marco & waited -nothing , so I said Polo-Harry just looked at me & said with gravity-"Harry". End of story. :love: :beathead:

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

I keep a journal on some of the memorable moments with Cloud since I adopted him. Here is a story that demonstrates how he has mastered the 'tease'. I've included the link to a picture.
CLOUDS TIMEOUTS
I’ve been using the timeout technique to let Cloud know that certain behaviors are unacceptable. It’s not going well. I lock him in his cage if he screams or if he pulls the newspaper out of the poop pan and shreds it all over the floor. I think he’s working off a list from the mothership on things he can do to his assignment to test my patience. When I tell him, “That’s it you’re getting a timeout”, he immediately runs for the top of the cage as I run around it trying to corral him into it. I can tell he really enjoys this. Lately, he has been opening his food door from the outside and dropping the bowl and seed all over the floor. When I hear him picking at the door and bowl, I take the bowl away and put it on a table a few feet away. This does not sit well with him and usually results in a screaming tantrum. The other day, after removing the bowl, Cloud quietly watched as I relocated the bowl to the table and then returned to my computer across the room. I snickered to myself as I congratulated myself on winning this one. For the first time I finally taught Cloud something and he had to concede to my victory. I was still basking in the glory of my conquest when I heard those all too familiar scratchy little bird claws on my floor. Cloud had walked over to the table and was eyeballing the corner of the table where his seed bowl was. (He is tenacious and doesn’t take defeat well.) He walked over to the chair at the end of the table and looked it up and down. He walked back to the side of table where he could see his dish at the edge. He went back to the chair and tried climbing up the leg and almost got to the padded cushion before sliding down the leg. Now . . . this is where I intervened and retrieved the little avian alien and put him back in birdy jail. As entertaining as he is, I certainly didn’t want beak bites in my good chairs.
I was now sure that Cloud was not going to concede to this defeat without a fight. I imagined coming home from work one day to find that Cloud had found yet another way to escape his cage, and dump his seed dish by chewing off the legs at one end of the table, thus dumping his dish and everything else that was on the table, all over the floor.
Timeouts have continued, but not without him trying to get my attention during his confinement. I started finding Clouds seeds all over the floor even when he is secure in his cage. Not just the usual few, but almost the entire dish full. One day while he was in timeout, I heard a lot of seeds hitting the floor. I watched as he put his whole head in the dish and scooped the seeds out with the side of his head. He did it with such force, that most of the seeds flew out the bars of the cage. As I approached the cage to remove the dish and what was left of the contents, Cloud stopped and watched me, poised for the showdown, standing tall with his crest up. I unlocked the door and started to open it when Cloud put his head in the bowl and then both feet and stayed that way as I attempted to open the door. Unfortunately, the door wouldn’t open enough to remove the bowl with his bird butt sticking out of the bowl. I pulled a little harder, but he held his position. When I backed off, he got out of the bowl. If I reached for the door, he got back in the bowl. We did this several times, enough to convince me that he knew exactly what he was doing and finally found a way to prevent me from removing his dish as punishment.
Proof http://www.pbase.com/dizpost/image/88615559

[Dot]

Not nearly as impressive as your story but it did just happen today. My daughter & I were playing Marco Polo answering each other thinking Harry might want to play. I walked over to his cage & said Marco & waited -nothing , so I said Polo-Harry just looked at me & said with gravity-"Harry". End of story. :love: :beathead:

Now that made me laugh out loud. Foolish woman, don't you know Harry's name? Gee! :haha:

[Dot]

Loving ball of fluff, my butt. They know exactly what they are doing because they are evil aliens. That is hysterical, but I do feel sorry for you. I wonder if our aliens feel like they are having a battle of wits with an unarmed man! :smiles:

[bonnie]

I keep a journal on some of the memorable moments with Cloud since I adopted him.


That is a REALLY good idea. I do have a journal, but I haven't journaled seriously for a long time. Maybe I should start a Chicken Log. LOL



Even though Chicken hardly ever talks, shows me he is smart and understands me all the time. I let him walk around on the floor a lot when I am not busy and can watch what is going on. If he walks up to the table or entertainment center and starts to get that 'I'm gonna chew on this!' look all I have to do is say 'Ehhh!' and he does a complete U turn and heads for the toy basket like that was where he was headed all along.

He also has this V-Tech toy I bought at a garage sale. It is shaped like a apple tree and all the apples have letters on them. There is a switch that turns it from the alphabet to music so I leave it on music and every apple plays a different song. Well, Chicken knows how to turn it on and likes to press the buttons. If he is just sitting on his perch looking bored or irritated I will tell him to play me a song. Most of the time when I tell him that he will walk over to the apple tree and turn it on and start pressing the apples to make music.

[Melissa]

I think my cockatoo is the smartest, although the macaw is a close second. Amazons trail behind in third place. Ariel the cockatoo is very analytical in her thinking. She likes to figure things out and tends to think several steps ahead of what is happening now. The macaw is also very smart, but she's more of a brute force to get what she wants sort of gal. Amazons are sort of the street smart class clowns around here. Smart in their own way, but tend to act first and think later. Little punks really.
Melissa

[Sashagirl]

I think the smartest are the 2 B&G Macaws that we call the babies(now 3 years old)no matter what we put on their cage other than padlocks they still manage to escape and let some of the other birds out.Granted there are only a total of 6 birds in that room they manage to figure out away to let them out of their cages.Then they destroy wood in the room.:o

[Anne-Samantha's Mom]

how about a smart tiel...???? she plays peek with my husband ...and she says peek/ considering girl birdies arent supposed to talk tho she does talk a blue streak..and says peek only when playing peek..i think shes pretty smart..

[Dot]

how about a smart tiel...???? she plays peek with my husband ...and she says peek/ considering girl birdies arent supposed to talk tho she does talk a blue streak..and says peek only when playing peek..i think shes pretty smart..

Have you got it on video yet? That is so precious.

[Larry, Baby and Me]

Okay - I have been bashful on this thread... so here goes.

Baby waves with her left foot - on cue. She shakes hands with her right foot - on cue. She turns around on cue. She stacks cups inside each other. She puts coins in her piggy bank. She turns on the light when we enter a room. She turns off the light when we leave a room. When she was full flight she flew to me on command. Now that she is clipped she walks to me on command. If she is on the floor - I tell her to get up on the couch and she does. I ask her if she wants to look outside - she runs on the floor and then climbs up her play stand to look outside. I ask her if she wants a bath and she runs and hides under the blanket we keep on the couch. When I take her outside to put her in her outside cage - I tell "I have to hold you" and she turns herself facing my chest for me to get a proper hold on her before going outside.

Oh by the way... she steps up when it suits her.:beathead:

[Diane, Clouds assignment]

Love it! Baby is a sweetheart.:hart::hart:

[Bambam]

Anne...so glad you found your way here...I know little Sam..Dub & you...I read your posts on at other places & I think you are where you belong now. Welcome home!!
I look forward to your stories...you never fail to answer a post..with nothing but good words of support...Glad to know you.
Freida
Bambamz Momma

[Dot]

Okay - I have been bashful on this thread... so here goes.

Baby waves with her left foot - on cue. She shakes hands with her right foot - on cue. She turns around on cue. She stacks cups inside each other. She puts coins in her piggy bank. She turns on the light when we enter a room. She turns off the light when we leave a room. When she was full flight she flew to me on command. Now that she is clipped she walks to me on command. If she is on the floor - I tell her to get up on the couch and she does. I ask her if she wants to look outside - she runs on the floor and then climbs up her play stand to look outside. I ask her if she wants a bath and she runs and hides under the blanket we keep on the couch. When I take her outside to put her in her outside cage - I tell "I have to hold you" and she turns herself facing my chest for me to get a proper hold on her before going outside.

Oh by the way... she steps up when it suits her.:beathead:

That settles it. My children ride the short bus! :haha::haha::haha::haha:

[Birdlover]

Oh by the way... she steps up when it suits her.:beathead:

:rofl:That is too funny :mwaha:

[Birdlover]

Lance is my most mechanically inclined bird (big shock there... she's a Too). She has figured her foraging toys out faster than I have, LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qXFqYJJwpk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCJ6opNsHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSG0wNDI9EQ

[FoxersArtist]

Peggy Sue says "Thank you" but ONLY after I give her a very special and rare treat...like something deep fat fried...shhhhhh. French fries always get a "MMMMMMMM!!! Thank you!"

Both lories are by far the smartest and most crafty of the bunch. All it takes is for them to hear one word used in context and they may repeat that word, used in context years later. We are baffled by their understanding of the english language. Each of them know every word and phrase that all of the others know combined. They keep the other birds in line. When someone screams, marsy will almost always say "Time out, Peggy Sue." They also communicate with the other birds. Chrissy sometimes gets going with this very shrill screech. Marsy will say "Stop it, Chrissy!" When Benny is frightened by something, Marsy will reassure him "Benny's a good boy." Both Mars and Orbit are constantly asking "Out? Out?" when they want out. One of mars' favorite things is to proclaim "Dirty bird!!!" when we change her papers.

They are all smart, but those are the birds that articulate their words well.
-Anna

[Dot]

Lance is my most mechanically inclined bird (big shock there... she's a Too). She has figured her foraging toys out faster than I have, LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qXFqYJJwpk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCJ6opNsHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSG0wNDI9EQ

Way cool. I have to have those toys. Where did you get them? I especially love the third one where she stops, looks at the toy, figures out how to get the treat, then proceeds.

Poor macaws. They are so ADHD that I don't think they could master those, but I would like to give them the opportunity.

They bow to the master! :bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown::bowdown:

[FoxersArtist]

Jill, where did you get those foraging toys?
-Anna

[Birdlover]

Lance is a genius isnt she? ;)

Those toys are made by Nature's Instinct (http://www.naturesinstinct.com/) (the line is called ForageWise). I do have to say though that some need to be modified. Cassius was playing with the "Barrel of Fun" and got his beak stuck in a ring. The ring was a split ring (not welded shut). There are tons of toys out there that have these same rings. I mentioned the concern to them and the new ones are going to have 2 quicklinks and no split rings. The chain is perfect on some (welded) but not on all (crimped). I have since changed out the chain and some are attached only by the quicklink from the toy to the cage. All in all I love their stuff but any toy I purchase from now on will not have a split ring on it.

[Dot]

Lance is a genius isnt she? ;)

Those toys are made by Nature's Instinct (http://www.naturesinstinct.com/) (the line is called ForageWise). I do have to say though that some need to be modified. Cassius was playing with the "Barrel of Fun" and got his beak stuck in a ring. The ring was a split ring (not welded shut). There are tons of toys out there that have these same rings. I mentioned the concern to them and the new ones are going to have 2 quicklinks and no split rings. The chain is perfect on some (welded) but not on all (crimped). I have since changed out the chain and some are attached only by the quicklink from the toy to the cage. All in all I love their stuff but any toy I purchase from now on will not have a split ring on it.

I was going to comment on one of them, the second one I believe. That chain was long enough to wrap around a neck. I'm glad you expressed your concerns and they modifed it.

[bonnie]

That settles it. My children ride the short bus! :haha::haha::haha::haha:
So does Chicken lol

[Dot]

So does Chicken lol

Again, I stole that phrase from my friend Cara. I hesitate to use it for fear of offending someone, but I know that my birds are not bright, especially after reading Larry's post.

[bonnie]

Again, I stole that phrase from my friend Cara. I hesitate to use it for fear of offending someone, but I know that my birds are not bright, especially after reading Larry's post.
You forget, I'm kinda young still (22). I say things like that ALL the time lol.

[Patty, Linus and Co.]

Lance is my most mechanically inclined bird (big shock there... she's a Too). She has figured her foraging toys out faster than I have, LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qXFqYJJwpk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvCJ6opNsHE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSG0wNDI9EQ

I HAVE to get the rings of fortune. I have the other two. The snack rack is almost pointless now. I'll hang it in Linus's cage and head for the door 8 feet away to leave for work and I'll hear him crunching on the peanut before I get the door shut.

Patty

[Dot]

I HAVE to get the rings of fortune. I have the other two. The snack rack is almost pointless now. I'll hang it in Linus's cage and head for the door 8 feet away to leave for work and I'll hear him crunching on the peanut before I get the door shut.

Patty

When all four of mine have mastered a toy, I disinfect it and give it to my vet to use with birds that are boarded there.

[Evelyn]

My baby CAG, Tamar, asked me today (as I was putting her back in her cage), "What are you DOING?" She had not said that before, altho she has heard me say it.

I've told this story before. My favorite bird of all time, Gyro (U2), chewed enough of a window out to push the glass pane out and get on top of the roof of the house. My friend was keeping him for me. It was raining quite hard. A neighbor called her to tell her there was a parrot of her roof. As she was climbing up the ladder in the rain, Gyro started climbing down to her, saying, "Poor Gyro, poor Gyro." When she had workmen in working on the bird room, Gyro would hide all their tools. The first night he was at my friend's house, he let all the other birds out of their cages.

I kept him in my law office. When people came in he would say, "Hello." When they left, he would say, "Bye, bye." He would wolf whistle, but only at women.

He opened every lock I put on his cage, so I got a padlock with a key. I left the key in the lock one night, and he took it out and put it in his cage. I couldn't open the cage because he had the only key. He learned to take apart his cage by unscrewing the bolts.

When somebody got close to his cage, he would reach out his foot to take their finger. Anybody dumb enough to give a finger to him got it pulled inside and bitten. He grabbed a pair of scissors one time and climbed to the top of the cage of a bird he hated. I was sure he intended to drop the scissors on that bird and kill her. He said several things, all of them appropriate to the situation. When my friend came to pick him up to take him to her house, he looked out the cage door and said, "Bye Bye, bye-bye, bye-bye"until they were out the door. It broke my heart. Of course, when I visit him, he stalks me and tries to attack me. But I love him anyway.

Evelyn

[Dot]

Evelyn

Wow! A smart bird and a genius bird. :haha:

[Anne-Samantha's Mom]

i cant even figure out how to post a picture let alone a video lol lol

[Evelyn]

i cant even figure out how to post a picture let alone a video lol lol



Me neither. I thought I was the only one. I can't even download them from the camera to the computer.

Evelyn