Please read if you love parrots.
| Alex | Casey | Jasmine | Bert | Loki | Chester | Boo-boo | Tookie |
| Baby | Others | Things | Foods | Notes | Likes | Start | Store |
hi
hello (especially when the phone rings)
hi-low
Alex, hi Alex
pretty bird
(name?=) Alex; pretty bird Alex
cat
(barking like a large dog)
good bird
(laughing - three versions)
Bert, hi Bert, Ber-er-ert
Wanna buy a bird? (once)
good boy, good bye, bye-bye
good night, night-night
up, step up
come'ere
love Alex, We love Alex?
wordless melody of "Yankee Doodle"
singing "doo-do-doot-do-doo-do-doot" and so on, not melodies I recognise - one seems to be that faux French one, "Ma Blonde-a"
And how was your day? (once)
yep, yes, yeah, yea-ah
silly
bath, take bath
okay
all right
breathy whistling
-- (sounds like a human who can't whistle well)
Alex does a perfect reproduction of Loki's cockatiel whistle, and Jasmine's one-note alarm call -- although he's louder.
Loki was doing his cockatiel alarm call, Alex started doing it back at him, and displaying along with it.
oops
"hey, guys", "hey, Chester"
atta-boy
gotta get ready for bed (once)
go to bed
back, be back later, you're back, come back
nap
Robin
happy
sorry (as an apology, after he nipped me)
what?! (in perfect irate teenager inflection)
-- he will sometimes say "what?" quietly, as a question -- meaning 'what is that?' or 'what now?'
quiet
-- during a lull in the road construction, Alex looked around and said "quiet" as an observation; he also sometimes says it as a command when Bert and company are making a ruckus
bad bird; I'm a bad bird
-- I never said this to him. Di says she may have called him a bad bird when he bit her, but she didn't teach him pronouns! He still says it sometimes when he wants attention.
He used "bad" by itself, after telling a bird outside the window to "come'ere" repeatedly -- when it didn't, he said "Bad! Come'ere."
apple, (Alex) love apple
-- Alex said "apple" frequently while learning to say it, I re-enforced by giving Alex bits of apple when he said it. Pretty soon, Alex was making his own phrases, as he often does, to say "love apple, yep" and "Alex love apple"
-- one day, Alex asked, "Apple?" I told him, yes I was getting grape and apple for birds. Alex said, "All right!"
Alex uses vocal inflections to indicate a question.
Since his monthly bill trims, Alex has started saying, "Doesn't that feel better?", "That's better", "that feels better" "Feel better" (question and comment), "better" (question and comment)
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"conversation"
-- After Loki moved downstairs, Alex would come over and "talk" quietly and intently to me for a full minute or more, with the cadence and inflection of human speech and some speech sounds, but no clear words. Alex did this for a few weeks when Loki first moved down to the bird room, but stopped after they all got used to each other.
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One day when Alex was out on his cage top, he looked around the room at the other birds, pausing at each and making a small indistinct sound before continuing to the next -- for all the world as though he were saying their names to himself, or counting them. Then he looked back at me, and seemed concerned. I told him all the others were here because of him, because he was such a good bird, such a pretty bird, the best bird. He raised his head and crest, briefly shook out his feathers, and nodded several times, then said "Alex!".
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"tap"
-- not a word he says, but one he clearly understands; while still at Diane's, I taught Alex to "tap" on the box holding his favorite crackers in order to be given one. He then learned to tap on other things when asked -- new toys, sticks, surfaces, and most importantly: windows.
"picture"
-- again, not a word he says, but one he understands -- he learned from the picture on the cracker box; I also use 'picture' for reflections.
One night when Bert was fussing, I asked him if he saw pictures while he was sleeping -- and got a resounding "Yes!" from Alex.
Alex was getting impatient for me to come back and pick him up, so I told him, "Come, fly" -- and he did.
"want a lift?" works better with Alex than 'step up'
| Alex | Casey | Jasmine | Bert | Loki | Chester | Boo-boo | Tookie |
| Baby | Others | Things | Foods | Notes | Likes | Start | Store |
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Please read if you love parrots.
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