Question re contact call

[Tishrei]

I live in Pasadena and we have a lot of wild parrots. In fact, they spend time in the palm trees outside where I live and in the morning, those contact calls are annoying when you want to sleep in. It just occurred to me, Ducky is a parrot (well, a severe macaw) but he seems not to want to return a contact call to those parrots outside. He never has. I would think he would at least say "hey" to them. Is it because he's not part of their flock?

[queenwonteverdie]

i think that parrots use contact calls to hear from the parrots (or owners) they know, to just say hey and figure out where everyone they know is at. if they dont know ducky, and ducky doesnt know them, then i guess there's no reason to say hey back. its like if your at the mall and someone you don't know yells hey in your direction, you understand what they're saying but you don't answer because you know they aren't talking to you.

[Lisa B]

actually different species have different languages. he probably doesnt understand them.
Its been shown that even groups of the same species in the wild, (as in double yellow headed amazons) tho, same species, have differnt languages.

These are my notes from a lecture some time ago.............

There are 3 subspecies of the double yellow headed Amazon. One is the most common the A ochrocephala oratrix, this species is what you find most times when offered double yellow heads, with little or no yellow and red in bend of the wings and when young just the forehead and crown is yellow, with the entire head being covered in few years. This Double Yellow Head is from Mexico mostly central to northern areas.
The Magna subspecies, being the most colorful with the head being almost covered even when very young. As they age, the Yellow will grow down their chest, along with the Yellow on the legs expanding to the belly. The magna is from the eastern area of Mexico ranging even into the slopes on the eastern coast of Mexico.
The last is the more rare Tres Marie subspecies of the double yellow head. The Tres Marie is known for the lack of barring on the breast, with varying degrees of a blue cast to breast feathers. They originate from the Tres Marie Island in the pacific off the coast of Mexico.

Though all three subspecies are from the same general area, Harvard biologist Mike Schindlinger studied and noted that all three subspecies “speak” their own language.

He was a very interesting speaker with his movies and tapes that he shared once he came home


when they have a contact call, its in their language, we humans are the ones who learn their language, and actually copy THEM!

[Tishrei]

Thanks. What got me wondering about it was I was watching the u-tube vidoes of the free flighted parrots and when they were making their parrot noise, Ducky seemed to have gotten a bit jealous and climbed down from the china cabinet and came over to me and started preening me. While on my shoulder, he actually brought his head around to my face and was trying to get my attention. He obviously knew it was bird noises and it appeared that he didn't want me to pay attention to other birds. After watching that behavior in him, I started remembering the parrots that live in the palm trees and wondered why Ducky didn't really pay attention to them. I don't know why I forgot about the parrots, they have no feelings for people like me who want to sleep in on the weekends.

[Courtzrocks]

Yeah, I noticed our galah called to galahs but not to any other birds and out tiels never screamed out other birds just to eachother. Not complaining though, wouldnt want them yelling all day. So glad i dont have a rainbow lorikeet, we have heaps of them around lol.

[greencinacheeks]

what about conures? i have seen different species conures "talking' to each other. shouldn't that mean they can't understand each other? different Language and all

~N

[Chico's Mom]

Not to hijack this thread, but just wondered if my tiel and gcc (who are still trying to learn to tolerate each other) will be able to communicate since they are different species and speak different "languages". Any thoughts on this?

[4HAND]

Originally Posted by greencinacheeks

what about conures? i have seen different species conures "talking' to each other. shouldn't that mean they can't understand each other? different Language and all

~N

HAHA my sun conure speaks to the crows outside all the time,but not to our blue crown!
Tena