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az
Egg
Joined: 10 Jun 2006
Posts: 18
Location: England UK |
| Is my baby orange winged amazon a talker? |
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I ve just acquired a orange-winged amazon...
I just read somewhere they are not talkers, is that true?
Has anyone else got a orange-winged amazon....and do they talk?
If anyone has an orange-winged amazon, any useful information about them will be appreciated!!
Thanks! |
Sunday June 11, 2006 5:02 pm |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Amazon parrots in general are known to be great talkers! Amongst the amazon parrots, the BEST talkers are generally thought to be the Yellow-naped Amazon, the Yellow-headed Amazon (and the Double Yellow-headed Amazon) and the Blue-fronted Amazon.
Orange-winged Amazons were initially imported into USA in HUGE numbers, and these were ALL wild-caught birds, so the experience of people with THESE particular Orange-winged Amazons were that they were not good English speakers, which is hardly surprising because they were ALL WILD-CAUGHT and so they were all busily speaking their native Orange-winged Amazonian language and NOT English!!
As Homer Simpson would say, "D'OH!!", heheh!
Since the USA made the importation of such wild-caught birds illegal in 1992, the availability of Orange-winged Amazons has dropped very substantially, and it was only MUCH later that breeders started to breed them. This was because the public were prepared to pay high prices for the Yellow-naped Amazon, Double Yellow-headed Amazon and the Blue-fronted Amazon (having heard that they were the best talkers) but would not pay high prices for the Orange-winged Amazon parrot, because they had previously been imported as wild-caught birds in such HUGE numbers that prices for them had ALWAYS been low. However, in more recent years, some breeders have realized that the status of the Orange-winged Amazon in USA aviculture may become threatened because everyone was breeding ONLY the other higher-priced Amazons, so in the name of preserving this species in domestic US aviculture, these breeders started to breed them more. However, this has only been a recent phenomenon, so the numbers of domestically bred and hand-raised Orange-winged Amazons out there in the US is not huge.
What this all means is that LOTS of people have had LOTS of experience with hand-raised Yellow-naped Amazons, Double yellow-headed Amazons and Blue-fronted Amazons, and therefore there are LOTS of people out there who have stories to tell about how well their Yellow-naped Amazons, Double yellow-headed Amazons and Blue-fronted Amazons can talk.
However, there are not too many people YET out there with DOMESTICALLY BRED AND HAND-RAISED Orange-winged Amazons, so there are not so many people yet to report how well their Orange-winged Amazons can talk (or can not talk, as the case may be). Simply put, there is simply not enough quantity of information out there just yet regarding domestically bred and hand-raised Orange-winged Amazons' talking ability.
Mattie Sue Athan, in her book, "Guide To Companion Parrot Behavior", describes Orange-winged Amazons as "charming characters with unique, adorable mannerisms, especially shadow boxing...domestic birds should be good talkers and of even temperament...the orange-winged Amazon has a reputation for being especially good with children."
Congratulations on your Orange-winged Amazon! It is one of the most vividly colored specimens I have seen, with SUCH a huge amount of brilliant blue and eye-catching yellow! ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!! |
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Sunday June 11, 2006 10:49 pm |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
If talking ability is important to you, I'd highly recommend Diane Grindol's book, "Teaching Your Bird to Talk". There is a huge amount of information in this book on how to best bring out the talking potential in your bird.
In Chapter 6, "Who Talks and Who Doesn't?", Diane lists Orange-winged Amazons under the section, "Potential for Talking", together with Blue and Gold Macaws and Green-winged Macaws, and there sure are LOTS of information out there about how well some people's Blue and Gold Macaws and Green-winged Macaws can talk, heheh!!
Remember, talking ability varies widely even amongst different individuals of the same species! |
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Sunday June 11, 2006 11:07 pm |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
Your bird definately has the ability to talk. It is mostly the clarity to mimic human voice. I can teach my sunday conure to talk but more than likely I would be the only person to understand what he's saying. It would sound more bird like than human like but he could get the tone down. Amazon's are a bit better with their ability. Just work on simple words and work on them daily. Hello, good morning, good night, his name, step-up, mama, papa, stuff like that. My YNA, one of the better talkers doesn't say too much and she's 27 years old. But not all birds are going to talk either, even if they are one of the best talkers. They are well known for their laughing ability and singing opera though.
Have fun and love him unconditionally 
Mickie |
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Sunday June 11, 2006 11:25 pm |
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az
Egg
Joined: 10 Jun 2006
Posts: 18
Location: England UK |
u people have been so helpful, thank you so much, i really appreciate all the help i can get, especially Fruitynutbird, thank you again.
I ve been trying that using the same words when i walk into the room, like hello. i've noticed though my parrot ribbits, sometimes when i talk to it, its so sweet, its like hes talking to me, so maybe its a start. |
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Monday June 12, 2006 10:25 am |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
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You are right about that ribbit! It is your bird's first baby-babble sound, just like human babies make babbling sounds like "Ga Ga" before they begin to make distinctive word sounds like "Ma Ma" and "Pa Pa" or "Da Da"! Keep saying, "Hello!" everytime you walk into its room and pretty soon you might get a "Hello!" back, heheh!
Apart from Diane Grindol's book, "Teaching Your Bird to Talk", that I have already mentioned, another must-read for people interested in talking birds is Dr. (now Professor) Irene Pepperberg's very high-quality scientific studies on the cognitive and communicative capacities of her African grey parrot, Alex:
http://www.alexfoundation.org/index2.htm
This is truly ground-breaking stuff which has altered forever our past paradigms on the intelligence and communicative abilities of parrots. I consider it essential reading for anyone with a pet parrot, if only to demonstrate that we are dealing with animals of the same level of intelligence as human 2 to 6 year old children! |
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Monday June 12, 2006 10:54 am |
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shirin
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 7405
Location: Canada, Toronto |
Fruitynutbird have you read "The Alex Studies"? I read it for a research paper I was doing in college on African Greys. Although it was a facinating read, it's almost impossible to ever achieve with your parrots what she has done with Alex. Alex lives in a lab setting at a University with hundreds of students interacting with him everyday, and people, including Dr. Pepperberg working with him round the clock from the time he wakes up, till the time he goes to sleep. One has to wonder though how happy Alex is in this environment, because the last time I saw a video of him on Animal Planet, he had completely plucked all of his feathers  |
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Monday June 12, 2006 2:53 pm |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Shirin, I've been watching the DVD, "Training Your Parrot The Alex Way", with Chris Davis and the occasional guest appearance by Dr. Pepperberg. My copy of "The Alex Studies" should be arriving very soon and I'll be looking forward to reading it. Dr. Pepperberg that Alex has lessons with her and her post-graduate students about 8 hours a day. She stated that Alex was feather plucking, but I wasn't aware that he had completely plucked all his feathers How recently made was your Animal Planet video? On the "Training Your Parrot The Alex Way" DVD as well as on her website, Alex looks like he just has a few ruffled feathers on his chest.
I agree that Alex's way of life is very unusual in that he has become a professional student. I can also see from the DVD that some of the students working with Dr. Pepperberg are better than others. There's one man whose attitude seems really quite bored and unenthusiastic - and I remember thinking, "Geez, if I was Alex, I'd want this man with his attitude right out of this room, but bring back that kewl girl with the very animated behavior and cheerful, enthusiastic voice instead!!", heheh!
I might check with Arlene from Dr. Pepperberg's lab on how Alex's feather-plucking is going. If I get any more information about this, I'll be sure to let you all know! |
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Monday June 12, 2006 6:47 pm |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Shirin, I've written to Arlene to ask for an update on Alex's feather-plucking. She'll be back in the lab on June 15th and I'll be waiting for her reply. In the meantime, though, I've checked the newsletters on The Alex Foundation's website and I'm happy to report that photos of Alex from Dec 2005 up to the most recent one published only a couple of days ago, showed Alex in really good feather, without much evidence of feather plucking at all!
I also note that in the January 2006 newsletter, special mention was made of how Alex actually spends MOST of his time playing, and only a few hours a day studying. Furthermore, the students do not just spend their time with Alex in study. Outside of Alex's study time, the students have to build toys for Alex, HAHAH!! A few of Alex's favorite toys are mentioned as well! Dr. Pepperberg would like to correct the false impression that we get when we see Alex on TV and think that he is made to study non-stop from waking up until going to bed. Dr. Pepperberg stresses that Alex enjoys other aspects of companion parrot life just like other companion parrots out there, but unfortunately, MOST companion parrots are unable to use cognitive verbal communication with their keepers, because the keepers have not put in the time to allow their parrots to do so, even though Alex has proven that this can and should be done. Dr. Pepperberg expresses her hope that parrot owners may from now on invest more time and effort into their parrots in order to facilitate this very important and effective method of communication, so that our companion parrots may achieve some more satisfactory control of their wants and needs.
By the way, Alex will be celebrating his hatchday in a couple of days! He is now 30 years old AND STILL LEARNING, LOL! WHAT AN AWESOME BIRD!!
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Monday June 12, 2006 9:48 pm |
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shirin
Moderator
Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 7405
Location: Canada, Toronto |
Andrew, thanks for the update on Alex's condition. I think I saw that video on Animal Planet 6 or 7 months ago, and I'm not sure how recent it was. His whole back and chest and all of his tail feathers were plucked and he only had down on his body. It's pretty amazing that he has recovered from that. Usually birds who pluck to that extent aren't able to regrow all the feathers back.  |
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Monday June 12, 2006 9:55 pm |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
A "few" hours a day Alex is in training?  I don't consider 8 hours a day a "few". No one by all means should look at their bird, Greys, Amazons or Too's or any species for that matter, and compare them to Alex and expect to get an Alex. This would be like taking your every day child or even intelligent child and expect them to be Einstein. This will give A LOT of people false hopes on being a parront and A LOT more unwanted pets. I think that labs suck the life out of animals whether they are killing their mind or killing their physical body. What happens when Alex becomes bored with all their testing? Will he regress and turn agressive? No one knows for sure. He still has more than half his life to live. It's like testing a new medicine and waiting to find all the side affects. I don't think they will like the outcome in later years. I actually fear for poor Alex's future as a happy parrot |
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Tuesday June 13, 2006 12:03 am |
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fruitynutbird
Fledgeling
Joined: 03 May 2006
Posts: 226
Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Chaquita's Mom, you have a good point there! I certainly wouldn't want lots of pushy parronts applying pressure on their fids to become as "smart" as Alex!! That'd be AWFUL!! The good news is that Dr. Pepperberg and the students are careful to watch out for boredom and regression, and Alex can actually tell them when he is getting bored! In an earlier newsletter this year, Dr. Pepperberg reported that Alex became bored with repeating the lessons he had already learnt before, and when the student asked Ales, "What's this, Alex?", he responded, "I told you before! I wanna get outta here!" Dr. Pepperberg then went on to let Alex do something else, and Alex seemed to regain interest in his studies. Nevertheless, bearing in mind what you just said, it now makes me wonder if what Alex meant by "wanting to get out of there" didn't just mean "I want to do something else" but really meant "I want to leave this lab!"
I'll be keeping a close eye on Alex, Griffin and Wart (the 3 African greys in the lab) and their development, that's for sure! |
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Tuesday June 13, 2006 12:54 am |
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az
Egg
Joined: 10 Jun 2006
Posts: 18
Location: England UK |
Ive tried everything, my amazon doesnt want to play with anything, as soon as i introduce something new, he runs away from it, gets scared. Maybe its early days, but i just wonder is he ever gonna be playful?!
I'm going to conquer this!!
Az |
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Wednesday June 14, 2006 7:20 pm |
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Cheeta
Moderator
Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 7972
Location: Australia |
Birds need to learn how to play... try leaving the new toy there in sight so he can see it for a few days, then when you're hanging out with him, play with the toy, but don't give it to him until he gets curious about it... he needs to know what they are for if he's been caged all this time and probably dont know what's what.
Good luck.. three year old isn't old, in fact is still young, and he'll pick things up quick enough. |
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Thursday June 15, 2006 8:59 am |
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Chaquita's Mom
Experienced flier
Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 1028
Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
Chaquita doesn't play either I wish she would but she just doesn't seem to want to. She enjoys the yelling game when the two of us just start yelling and singing at each other  She also enjoys cardboard boxes. I close it up and make an opening for her to climb into it and she chews it up from the inside out then I get her a new box. And she like's to chew on the rope that I put on her play tower.
Maybe you have a laid back bird like Chaquita. She gets more enjoyment just hanging out with me and going outside and stuff and looking around. Goofy bird You could even give him different textured cloth pieces too. Like Chaquita, she enjoys chewing on different things that are soft. |
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Thursday June 15, 2006 3:26 pm |
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