African Grey
By athlyngreen
@athlyngreen (101)
Canada
February 25, 2007 11:10pm CST
I had an incredible African Grey parrot named Bailey. He transcended the boundaries between humans and Psittacines, learning and then using our language to communicate with us. He gave us a glimpse into his enormous potential.
Bailey could indentify four people, could name objects, could count, could tell us how he was feeling or what he wanted.
He would string sentences together in his own unique fashion, changing them from what we had taught him, to more accurately describe what he wanted to communicate.
He loved both watermelon and tomatos and in his own inimitable style would say, "Want some water-mato!"
If I pointed to a cup and asked, "What's that, Bailey?" He would respond: "Cup-a-tea. Want a drink?" Then make slurping noises.
When we had company,he would laugh hysterically, hamming it up to get attention.
He insulted one guest by instructing her to "Exercise, come-on, exercise!"
He was a wonderful part of our family.
3 people like this
4 responses
@vampkat (60)
• United States
4 Mar 07
When I was younger we had mulucan cockatoo. His name was Moochie and he was the SWEETEST bird I've ever seen. he was so smart too. He used to call me from my room...USING MY MOM'S VOICE. I would come out of my room and ask waht she wanted, and Moochie would sit on his perch and LAUGH at me. if you've never heard a smart bird laugh, you just don't understand how amusing it is. I miss him terribly.
@athlyngreen (101)
• Canada
4 Mar 07
Hi,
I had a Mullucan Cockatoo, too! Miss Muggles. She was gorgeous and would cuddle me like a baby would. She loved to scold us if we came back after leaving the house. A police officer pulled the car over and she scolded him! He said it was the funniest thing he ever experienced being brought to task by a parrot!
Muggles also loved to laugh and she would wait until I was on the phone, then start laughing, to try to get some attention. My other parrot, Beaker would copy her and soon the walls would reverberate with maniacal laughter! A fellow I was interviewing on the phone, commented: "Good grief, it sounds as if you live in an insane asylum!"
Parrots definitly have a sense of humor and you can, at times, hear it in the tone of their voices.
1 person likes this
@CinderInMySoul (4717)
• United States
26 Feb 07
im sorry to hear that Bailey has passed on. he sounds like a wonderful family member!
it truly is amazing what Grey's are capable of!
water-mato..that is so cute!
1 person likes this
@66jerseygirl (3877)
• United States
4 Mar 07
I was so saddened to hear about what happened to your Bailey.I don't know how anyone can do to that to a helpless creature.YOu had him for seven wonderful years and I'm sure you will treasure all those wonderful memories
@athlyngreen (101)
• Canada
4 Mar 07
Thank you for your kind comments.
I've had other pets that I loved but Bailey was so special because he could reason and communicate and tell me what he was thinking. He even asked questions. He used to always ask, "What's that?" Then he would try to make sense out of my answer.
For example, we wallpapered our frontroom and when I brought Bailey out he looked around, eyes wide, and asked, What's that?"
I didn't know how to explain to a bird about wallpaper, so opted for a simple answer. I said, "that's wallpaper, Bailey."
Bailey looked around again, then said, "That's-a-pretty." We had never taught him this. He used the words he knew to make a sentence to tell us that he liked what he saw.
If I got ready to go out, Bailey would watch me putting on make-up, then would ask: "time to go bye-bye?" I would tell him I was but that I would see him later.
He would respond, "okay lovey, see ya later."
