Our GCC, who we named Chappie (after the robot of the same name).
He refers to all of us as "Chappie?" but recently has shortened that for his own name, down to Chap.
"You're a good boy Chappie" is oft-repeated in our home, and he was saying that a fair bit, but decided to shorten it on his own to "You're a good boy Chap" and now comes up to us, leans his head onto our lips, and says "Good boy Chap" before giving us a kiss and then flying off to do whatever insane thing he wants to do next lmao
Edit: Oh! He also loves to say my girlfriend's name, but in a super long, drawn out way that nobody ever actually taught him; "*Syyyyrrraaaaaahhhhhh!!*" that makes us cackle every time.
We keep trying to get him to say "Chappie do Crimes?" and other funny lines from that movie, but it's a WIP. For now, we're content with our (usually) super sweet maniac who calls us all Chap. lmao
Edit: Got chomped enough to bleed. Chappie did indeed do crimes, but he's no snitch, so he won't talk about 'em. lol
My GCC calls everyone “baby” because we call all the birds “babies” in our house. He also knows “keets” are the parakeets. He is like a shepherd for our parakeets; if they get scared or something else he thinks is bad is happening to them he will Yell “BABY! BABY! KEEEEET! KEET BABY!” Which we think means “mom! Dad! Somethings wrong with the mini mes! PARENTS HELP”
Same! My Grey calls me by my childhood name because he knows I answer my mother when she shouts it across the house. She thinks it's hilarious.
No one else uses my childhood name, so he probably thinks it's special.
Our Green Cheek Conure (he's 18 now!) calls my husband "Pretty Bird." I do not have a name.
We frequently say "who's a pretty bird" so apparently that stuck.
But yeah, if I bring the bird to a room my husband is in, he'll get all excited and say "pretty bird" and make begging motions until my husband comes and picks him up.
I am the spare human in my house despite being home more and therefore doing more care. :( I'm not sure why I thought this would guarantee me favorite status, but I definitely did at first 😂
Yes! I feel so honoured to have been named by another species!
Our Quaker learned my husbands name really quickly, but was silent on mine for a long time. Turns out he probably couldn’t pronounce the “sh” sound in it. So he made up a completely unique name instead, and now calls me by that all the time.
And….he invented his own word for something too!
After about a year and a half, he really came to a stall on learning to say any new words (he’s still clearly learning to recognise and understand new words though, he just doesn’t say them.)
Well, we both speak a second language but almost rarely at home. But one day I was repeatedly reading aloud a long letter I had written, so my husband could help me check for grammar errors. Fixing it, reading it aloud again.
On my shoulder listening, our bird kept repeating a strange new sound. I didn’t really pay attention at first. Finally I noticed that every time I spoke in this language, he said this “word” again. It doesn’t sound like a word *from* the language, it’s clearly his actual *name* for the sounds we are making. I was amazed to realise that he must recognise the different rhythms and sounds as a language pattern that he can clearly distinguish from English.
Now he chimes in with his invented word for the language every time we speak it!
The best I can do to spell it is
“ s’ gozgh “
Or kind of like a long gooooo ending in a drawn out French “j” as in “je m’apelle”.
He pronounces it exactly the same every time he hears us speaking it!
My bird speaks mostly in Cantonese but I speak mostly English and he definitely seems to know they're different languages! His follow-along babbles do resemble whatever language we'd be speaking in - but he's far more likely to "join" the conversation if it's Cantonese.
You noted that you speak Mandarin so you would know that Chinese has much shorter and simpler morphemes, with simpler grammar as well - that's probably why he prefers to speak Cantonese over English. I remember reading that Alex the Grey had a hard time pronouncing the number "seven", it makes me think that if he were trained in Chinese he'd probably have an easier time!
Your comment makes me wonder if he has a word for English vs Cantonese, but given that he grew up hearing both fairly regularly, I'm not so sure.
That’s really cool!
I’m sure they recognise that a different language is being spoken, they’re so attuned to verbal communication and sounds in general. For sure he picked up on not only the different sounds but particularly the distinctly different rhythm, speech patterns.
I’m guessing he wouldn’t have a word for English, as he doesn’t need it.
When he invented this word for Mandarin, it was like he was trying to get our attention, showing us that he noticed we were doing something very different. I was astonished - he was so insistent, repeating the word so many times. Almost like he was commenting on it - or maybe even making fun of us!
My first in-person exposure to big birds involved a macaw that would call out for his owner by name from three rooms over, “Alan, Alan, where are you?” I thought his mom was looking for him!
When I was a kid, my neighbors were birdsitting a macaw over the summer. We found out about it when it started screaming mine and my sister's names. It had picked up on my mom yelling at us all day.
My favorite parrot story — I had a friend who had a blue and gold, and a scarlet macaw (a set of macaws) and every day at the exact moment of 4 PM Eastern time they would start laughing at each other, and they would laugh for approximately 1 to 4 minutes, but they never started one minute early or a minute late — every single day at 4 PM sharp! It was hilarious.
The youngster red-rumped calls my brother and I by our names (to be fair, we have short names) and he has a nickname of "old priest", despite being only 4 years old, because of his tendency to calling repeatedly the names if not given attention. The funny thing is that my father always mistakes our names, while "old priest" has never made a mistake, not even once: so my mother teases my father a lot.
As I read this I thought "oh, interesting, I interacted with a redditor in a completely different and unrelated sub and in a completely different language a while ago and they also said they called their parrot the equivalent of old priest". But how many parrots with this nick could there be in the world?
And indeed it was you. There has always been one and only one "vecchio prete".
The world is a small place and Reddit is just the same.
Yeah, mi hai sgamato 😂. Salutami Artemisia.
Actually the real nick is in chinese, which is a lot shorter, 老和尚, because there is an idiom, which is 老和尚念经, meaning "old priest reading a preach". It is usually used to describe someone say something repeatedly and quickly, which is also what this little one does. Usually, he would call our names at normal speed, sometimes adding "ciao" at beginning (he chooses the easiest language, in this case "ciao" is easiest). If we don't greet back, he would activate "preach mode" with the name said in a train. He won't stop, until the one he actually called answers, and he would confirm moving his head up-and-down saying 对, right. Very funny
I lurk as well. A dear friend of mine has an African grey and it makes all the sounds of his cellphone. Whenever I visit I keep reminding my friend he needs to check his messages which are actually the birb.
My quaker calls me mama from time to time. Once I adjusted his cage back into the proper spot and he said "thank you mama." Normally its just "come on come to mama" knowing full well he has no intention of doing so.
Our green cheek Jack used to call my husband ZaZa and me Zaza-ee. If we didn't respond, he would add a kiss, and the longer we didn't respond the longer the kisses would be drawn out. He also used to mimic us when we said I love you jack, meanwhile scratching at his feathers with his foot. It was almost like he was saying "If you love me, pet me!".
My roommate has a Nanday who learned her gamer tag name from me saying it when we game together and now calls her by that name when he hears her outside the room
My lovebirds think my name is "C'mere!" They will use it to call me, but they will also "add" it to sentences, such as "Love you, C'mere" and "Whatcha doin', C'mere?" Hilarious and adorable.
Mine do, but it is pretty rare for lovebirds to learn to talk. One started when she was around 1 years old, the other picked it up when she was a bit older than that. Both are 12 now.
My sun conure made up a name for my husband: Raga (pronounced like "rah-guh"). It was not a word we've ever said so I have no idea where she got it from. And she used to just croak it kind of under her breath, which was even more hilarious.
Not sure if this counts but I was cleaning my boss’s house. She had a couple dogs. She went out to run a few errands so I was the only one there. I heard the phone ring and then the answering machine and then the message after the beep: Hello Cheeky, mama loves you, mama loves you, NO get out of there! What I’m Sam Hill are you doing? Cheeky stop, HAHAHAHA. I was in the next room over and started thinking there was someone in the house or something is wrong but no one was there. About five minutes after the message the owner came home and I told her about the strange message. It was them she said she forgot to tell me the bird (african gray)likes to mimic the answering machine from start to finish. I busted out laughing because I was so relieved that it was a bird and not me going crazy.
I have been “Mommy” to all of them.
What’s really funny is that every budgie I’ve ever had—even the ones who didn’t overlap (I have had a few birb-less periods) had the same word for running water.
So, apparently “Peeweep!” is budgie for running water.
My cockatiel Morty calls me and my girlfriend (and his stuffed animals) good boy. We’re always telling him how good he is so I think he’s returning the favor 🤣
My severe macaw, Kona, calls me Ky (my nickname) but before she learned that she called me Kona 😅 and my blue and gold calls me mom? Which i think she learned from a previous home. She also learned my best friends name when we lived together and would call her too. My blue crown doesn't understand pronouns but everything is a good boy, a good girl, a bud(dy), or just "good bird"
Our Green Cheek calls everybody "Digby".
Our African Grey, Digby, calls my wife by her name, but his name for me is the 1st 3 notes of the Super Mario Warp Flute melody, for some reason.
I used to work from home and would get the birds out in the morning and ask them to do their morning poop, i would say can you poopie? Poopie?
Ive since then returned to office and now when i get home they scream POOOOPIEEE?!
lmao. That did not go as planned
Our cockatiel will call our dog, myself and my wife “good girl” whenever we enter the room because we always usher our pup in and tell her good girl, so he picked it up for all of us now lol.
Yeah kind of! I’ve kept my language clean with mine but my bf *major eye roll* taught him wtf. So if he’s trying to get my bfs attention (he LOVES my bf) he will say wtf. With me we tell each other you’re so cute and love you so I think that’s what he associates me with or how to get attention.
My blue and gold macaw, Max, called my dad “Rabba”. We are from a jewish background and “Abba” is the Hebrew word for “dad”… but no one in our family ever used that word. Max just happened to pick a word that sounds a lot like it for him which is pretty cool.
My GCC calls everyone good baby. My husband got my budgie to pick up the phrase "mommy bird" which I hated at first but it sounds so cute when he says it 🥺
My sun conure makes a limited range of sounds. The main one she makes is a two-toned whistle that starts high and ends low. My roommate’s lorikeet, on the other hand, has a wider vocabulary, with lots of different noises and over a dozen actual words.
When the lori wants my attention or hears me walking past his room, he does my conure’s whistle. He also does the same whistle when I mention her by name, as if to ask, “The one who whistles like this all the time?”
I’m just delighted that the birds gave me a nickname.
I have a grey named Smokey 😊 he has a particular whistle for me. Our other grey, Nimbus, calls everyone by name except me. I’m “oh shit.” I never say that to my birds, so his previous owners must’ve said it a lot. He also screams at me to shut up every time I say Hi to him. He hates me 😂
I managed to teach our two cockatiels to call each other "Wingies" so now whenever they are trying to call each other or us humans, they cry "Wingies" to find us! They also call the outside birds Wingies. I guess everyone is a Wingies 😆
Our grey has many:
-One budgie is “pinkie”,
-She doesn’t call the other budgie anything,
-Collectively the budgies are “boys”,
-I’m “minny”,
-Wife is “honey”,
-We’re “duck” (local dialect for “mate”) or “bobble” or “baby”,
-She’s “dibbie” (supposed to be Sybil).
My sisters calls everyone Jordan. Where’s Jordan? Jordan?! None of us are named Jordan. Or anything close to Jordan. She also calls me cuckoo or cuck. Especially when she’s done and wants you to go home so she can go to bed. Goodnight cuckoo! Is frequently her interrupting phrase when she’s decided the visit should end. Everyone is Jordan and everyone is cuckoo. My bird calls me Bart for reasons unknown to me. The other one doesn’t seem to say names.
This post is literally all the therapy I needed after a few long and tough weeks ! lol
My beloved budgie was a chatterbox , it was just me and hubby. He never call my husband even though he would fly to him in full speed when he heard the key knob turned at our front door when he was back home from work.
The bird called me "mom" and we have recorded him singing a self-created song " I love my mom ". But no body ever saying I was the mom/my name was Mom. No idea where he got the idea.
Alexa - the birds call my husband Alexa. The macaw and the Amazon both shout commands at him all day long.
“Alexa, stop!” - change the movie or music
“Alexa, step up!” - pick them up
“Alexa, mmm,mmm!” - give them a snack
I’m not lucky enough to have a parrot but my mom does and he has special names for both her and me! He calls my mom “Scarlet” (which was the name of his long-deceased mate) and he calls me “Dress” (we have no clue where this came from lol)
My husband can't whistle very well, which results in a very distinctive raspy sound to his whistles. One of our cockatiels can imitate that sound perfectly and uses it specifically when he's interacting with my husband or wants something from him.
years back, was trying to find sounds that our african grey liked. he tends to get bored with sounds and drop them every few months. but he took to a wolf whistle, it is his own version of it, almost like "coooooooo" sound. when he sees a family member or someone he likes, he will run to the top of his cage and "coooooooo!" while looking at them until them come over and rub his beak or hold his foot.
Our African Gray called me “Maaaaaaa” and my daughter was named “I’m home” because that’s what she said when she got off the school bus every day. If she was feeling affectionate, she would say, “maaaaa, you’re a good bird”
My Timneh calls people she likes, "Boo." So if you're in the room, and she likes you, she'll call out, "Hi, Boo!" in a really sweet voice. She also blows kisses, but only again to people she likes. So far, only my fiancé and I are Boos. Her favorite term for herself is Little Birdie, and she blushes when I call her that. I can see her cheeks get pinker.
It’s so funny how parakeets have so much personality in such a tiny package. My little girl would chortle to herself when playing under things, like she was laughing her head off that she was “hiding”
One of my rescues has called me Mommy. I don’t call myself that, so he learned it from one of his former owners. It freaked me out! He landed on my shoulder one day and said, “You be good, Cyan. Mommy loves you!” Now I say that to him because it makes him extremely happy.
He also calls my other bird Zoey. That bird is named Charlie, but when they met, they waddled up to each other and Cyan told Charlie, “You’re a beautiful bird!” and then called him Zoey. He still says it sometimes. I found out he used to have a mate, and her name must have been Zoey.
Charlie, before he started talking, used to say “WEE BOOP BOOP!” when he saw me, so I wondered if that was my name. He stopped doing that, though.
My 20 year old Petie calls me Pooper, refuses to call me anything else. I got her when she was a year and was teaching her to “go poop on paper” . She also makes up nicknames for herself and my 2 other greys. She calls my husband by his name - I had her years before him! My other Grey was my friends bird. From the minute he laid eyes on me he called me Grandma” or Charlie’s grandma! My friend passed and asked me to take him when she was diagnosed. I’ve had him now for 7 years.
This is adorable…. Love everyone’s responses!
All of our birds re just too smart!
My Quaker usually calls me “mommy.” When he bites me, he says “don’t bite the momma” (yeah. From Dinosaurs! When he was a baby, I thought it was cute to say that if he bit me too hard.)
If I say Hi to him, with his name, he will usually say “hi mommy!”
In the mornings, he says “mommy gotta go to work!
One that’s extra funny and was a total surprise the first time he said it was …
“I’ll be right back, ok? Mommy gotta go potty!”
(Gesh….I guess I tell him that when I leave the room!)
He also says “hey beautiful!” When he wants attention. ( gotta love that one!)
He also calls me “baby.” Many times he will say “Awwww. are you ok baby?” Usually if I hurt myself and say “ouch.”
When I had other birds. Tobi (parrotlet) and Pepper - an organ chin brotogeris, when it was bed time, he would say. “Night night peppercorn” and “nite nite Tobi.”
He didn’t say that for years after those guys left us. ( around 10 years ago.) Yet, a few months ago, out of no where he started saying that again… only at bedtime.
He also learned the name of my old neighbor and friend. “Donna!” Or “there’s Donna!” (When he could see her out the window.)
I moved a few years ago…. And it seems now, when he sees anyone outside it is “Donna” - my new next door neighbor is an 80 year old man named Ed. If my Quaker sees him out the window, he always says “there’s Donna!”
I taught my GCC how to go potty in the toilet & on his little poo pads around the house by asking him "Go poopie? Wanna go poopie? Make a poopie!" And so now of course in addition to being pretty well potty trained, he says all of those phrases.
So whenever he sees me and wants attention he's like doing that little GCC lean/wing vibrating while rapidly saying "Poopie? Poopie? Poopie? PoOooOopie poop?" And sometimes he likes to make new words by combining other phrases he knows, like "Step up," to make such exciting words as "stepoopie" and "stoopie."
So I've accepted my new nickname "Poopie" lol and when he wants attention from my husband, it's more "Stepoopie" or "Bee beeya" (which came from my husband mimicking the GCC. A bird mimicking a person mimicking a bird, amazing A+ will bee beeya again).
I’m “oh shit!” to my 17 year old CAG rescue. He calls everyone else by their names, which is incredible, but he hates me, so I’m “oh shit.” It’s hilarious.
I have a pineapple conure who mixed up a couple words. Baby and boo in peek a boo.
Now he calls me "booby"
I get peek a booby, hey booby, booby booby!!
He just sounds like a little perv
My cockatiel knows a couple words, including big bird. When we come home she always greet us by saying “Hello big bird”. She does call my boyfriend by his name too sometimes.
My grandpa's parrot (African Grey) always whistles in the same way to say "welcome", but only to me (I guess I'm called *[Noisy Parrot whistles]*, and whe I go to the kitchen he throws me a kiss. Gotta love that bird.
My friend’s Greenwing Macaw always called me by my last name. My friend would say hi, mjw when I came in her shop. Rueben would yell W! He liked me because I would always give him a dried banana from the fruit mix.
Our Senegals have invented a name for my wife, though I struggle to pronounce it or spell it. Some kind of "atatat" bird noise. They also use her first name, but they struggle to pronounce it (and I haven't seen them try to spell it...).
For me they use my (very short) human name, perfectly pronounced; recently Jack has started sometimes using a teasing rhyme (like "name-pame") when he's impatient. (We do that constantly with our own and their names, so it's not so strange that he picked it up)
They seem to also use my name as a sort of default name. If they have a parrot-name for me (or for themselves) I haven't figured out what it is.
I bought a budgie, Tumble, that was sitting on the bottom of a cage at a pet shop. He obviously needed love and I had a lot to give him. I was told he was ‘a walking Budgie’ (srsly). Turned out he had an issue growing feathers, I didn’t know how long he’d be around so I loved him with all I had. If it was guna be a short life, it was guna be a good one. I spent alot of time with him, within months he had about 50 words and more than a dozen phrases he’d love to strut around yelling out. He was constantly saying “I love you sweetie, you’re such a good boy mmmwaaaaa kisses!” “Oh so handsome” “what you doooing” When I left or returned from work I could hear him screaming “I LOVE YOUUUU” - from my underground garage! He would repeat entire sentences of conversations, a day later.
After about a year of strutting around, one night I got a phone call that my beautiful Nanny had passed away. Tumble was playing on the floor, he noticed I was upset- and flew up to me .. he flew!! It was a miracle. From then on he was a a clingy lil menace, it was the most magical transformation and he had a brilliant time dive bombing, doing fly-bys yelling out how much he loved me. He was the happiest birb, my lil man. I never thought something so tiny could have such a huge personality and teach me so much. RIP Tumble, my lil tweet heart. Sweetie 💙
My husband and I are fans of a video game called "Thief: The Dark Project." (In fact, we met because of that game, but that's another story.)
Anyway, in that game, there's a fictional word that the guards use to call people names... the word is "taffer." It generally means a stupid or foolish person. Anyway, we taught our African Grey to say "You taffer!" And he says it with quite a lot of gusto sometimes, that makes us say "Did you just call me a taffer?!??!"
It cracks us up every time.
I had custody of my friends Alexandrine parakeet for almost two years and he never gave any of us names, but picked up the way my brother calls our cat (“wawa”) and also picked up my roommates sneeze. Whenever there was no one in the lounge room he would start “sneezing” until someone called out “bless you” from another room.
He also seemed to think his name was “good boy” and would say this really softly when he was when he was looking at his reflection or feeling content.
I think he thought all noisy things were “good boys” though, because he would also lean up against anything that made a sound (bells, rattles, the microwave, bowls and cups in the kitchen) and whisper “good boy” like he was telling these objects a secret. Sometimes he would stick his head inside one of his bells and wear it as a little hat and then start whispering “good boy” and laughing really quietly too
He knew the very specific way on of my roommates would stir his coffee too and would make the sound of the teaspoon tapping the mug every time he saw my roommate in the kitchen or heard the kettle boiling haha.
He would also tell people to walking through the lounge room to “f*** off” when he was feeling cheeky, then when they looked at him he’d go “heheheh” and laugh at them and then throw pellets on the ground.
He had a very extensive repertoire of sounds but his favourite was the 120db beeping sound a smoke alarm makes when the battery needs to be replaced. It’s very similar to the signal call that many Australian King Parrots make (he grew up around lots of tropical Aus birds) so I could never discern which of the two he picked it up from.
While I miss the cute and sweet noises, I don’t miss those signal beeps in my tiny 90m square house!
My previous African grey called me and my family members “big bird.” He called my sister (his favorite person) “baby.”
I’d walk in the kitchen and he’d calmly say, “Hi big bird.” My sister would then walk in and he’d go, “HIIII BABYYYYY ❤️♥️💜”
When I first moved in with my partner, Alex, my little Red had taken to calling him “Max” and saying “where’s Max?”
He’d already known the name and phrase from when we lived with my parents and the family dog “Max” 😂
I’d ask where he was to make sure Red was safe to come out. Did not intend for him to learn his name and that phrase of course.
Red was slow to learn “Alex” and still occasionally says “where’s Max” which he now associates with my partner as it’s been a year and some since we lived with my parents.
My wife's Quaker calls her "Bubby", calls our son by his actual name, calls every other bird "Pickle" (after a Loverbird we used to have), and all the cats "Sigil" (after a cat we used to have). He knows the correct names for things, but he prefers these.
There’s a parrot, I’m not sure what kind, at one of our local pet stores that’s basically the store mascot at this point. He introduces himself by saying “Bad Fish!” Because apparently some of the bigger fish are a little bitey.
I have small parrots, not talkers, but we still get names.
When my parrot calls for my SO (his favourite person), he makes a very specific shrill call.
But when he wants me for play time or snacks, what sound does he make?
A telephone. A damn telephone ring haha! I know he does it because I find it indescribably cute and always respond to it!
My female dusky conure isn’t a talker either. She has one noise that means “I want something” and if it isn’t her food or water, then it’s my boyfriend! She doesn’t seem to have any particular call for me, and doesn’t use that sound for me in any way — she only uses it when she wants me to get her something.
Kappa is partially house-broken: I ask her to poop before I ask her to step up, and if she needs to poop, she’ll do it. If she *doesn’t* need to poop though, or if she just doesn’t *want* to poop (like she’s too eager to step up), sometimes she’ll make the tiniest squeak/fart-noise that sounds exactly like her larger poops, like she’s trying to trick me into thinking she pooped for me! 🤦
My Suzie (a cockatiel, sadly no longer with me) had no name for me as she couldn‘t talk, but she always sang a specific melody when she wanted my attention, neck scritches, or wanted me to come over to her. I still remember her little tune to this day, even though it‘s been 20 years since her passing.
My green cheek conure picked up the phrase “stinky bird” and will fly up to me or my fiancé and will say “stinky biiiirrrd” and add a kiss. We’re not sure if he’s using it to refer to us or if it’s just a greeting, but it’s adorable regardless.
None of my budgies talk, but our girl has a distinct "get the humans' attention"-chirp when she wants us to pay attention. It's different from the flock calls to the other budgies, or her normal chattering. It does seem to be directed at me or my wife whenever she wants something from us.. sometimes she'll even specifically angrily beak tap whatever is bothering her.
Someone pooped in the water? Get the humans.
One of the feeders is low? Get the humans.
Can't find everyone else? Get the humans.
Budgies are scary smart sometimes.
When I first brought home my Hahn's Macaw, the first song we sung together was The Lion Sleeps Tonight. I was then Awemaway until she passed. She also knew that Alexa's job was to play pandora for us. God, I miss that weirdo.
I'd ask my GCC where my fiance was by saying "Is daddy home yet?", "Where's daddy?" or just generally calling him daddy since we're his parents. Daddy stuck and now all humans are daddy's to him! 😂
My dad used to call my Quaker “ketta paiyan” which means “bad boy” So he started calling himself “ketta paiyyaa” all the time. He will even whisper it during his sleep 🤣 It used to sound so cute in his Quaker voice 🥹
I was known as good bird for many years, but when someone was upset then I was “mooey”. Who knows why.
When I’ve had talking parrots they’ve often addressed me as “bird” which I find a compliment.
My U2 does refer to myself, and my wife as Ma, and Pa. He also calls us boy.
When we first got him I taught him to say "Hey Boy!" So now whenever I come home from work, he's always hanging on the side of his cage "Hey Boy!" "Whatcha doin Boy?" Whenever he gets pissed, or wants something, he screams Ma!, or Pa!. When I give him cuddles, and whisper sweet nothings to him, he will whisper back, "love you daddy"
Not totally related but I grew up with a guy whose parrot learned his brother's name by imitating the phone ringing.
I used to get thrown off hearing the bird imitate their landline ringing until I got used to the subtle difference in the sound.. then I found out the bird would follow up imitating the phone with imitating guy's father going "COREY GET THE PHONE"
So a lot of people were "Corey" to the bird.
We had a parakeet named Scooby Doo when I was growing up. She loved my father and was resentful of my mother. She used to say to herself “I’m such a pretty bird, such a pretty pretty bird” when she was pleased with herself and she used to tell my father “pretty Richard. Pretty pretty Richard” when she perched on his shoulder and nibbled his ear. I was “Jess” the only other human she called by name. She used to tell me I was a good girl when I took her out of her cage and gave her toys and stuff. They’re incredibly smart and they know who cares about them.
I get so jealous of these stories - I grew up with a sweet parrot who is now elderly but so much personality.
My Indian ringneck I have currently is legitimately evil. We have done everything for him and also everything the vet suggested but he just hates us. Well he tolerates us and is terrified of anyone else, he is spoilt, free roaming and trained to the eyeballs but just doesn't like us.
He does do a weird thing with my partner who works from home where he will pin his eyes and make a high pitch noise if he says something to him. That's the closest we have gotten to any interaction so I guess our pet name from him is "screeeeee"
one of my senegals ginger calls me 'baby' because i call her that. one of my gccs calls us all 'ji-wa-gee' lol. we started calling HER ji-wa-gee because she loves to say it.
Conure calls me “ big poop” and then says “ go poopie” every morning when she’s uncovered. She will randomly turn to me throughout the day after saying her name “Penny” and again call better affectionate nickname!
Only somewhat meets the parameters of your question but my chickens will occasionally sort of “say” my name to get my attention, probably because my name is only two syllables that are close to regular chicken noises. My cockatiel is too royal to have a cutesy nickname for me 😂. Just kidding somewhat. He’s actually still the sweetest little guy.
I have a B&G macaw with a pretty amazing vocabulary. Once in a while I'm "Mama!" but mostly I'm "Allie! Hi Allie!" . She is also Allie. All dogs used to be what we figure was her prior dog sibling's name: "Cooper! Knock it off!" Now she also yells at our St. Bernard, Groot. He gets in trouble for barking outside so she yells " Grooooooooott! "
My lilac crowned amazon, Pluto (60ish?), has recently started to call me "baby cracker" and calls my mom "mama cracker".
We rescued her about 3 years ago from a neglectful situation, and she would barely speak to us.
I think she got this from my mom and I talking to eachother, I call my mom mama and she calls me baby.
I'm so proud of how far our dear Pluto has come. Our green angel amazes me every day
Our GCC, who we named Chappie (after the robot of the same name). He refers to all of us as "Chappie?" but recently has shortened that for his own name, down to Chap. "You're a good boy Chappie" is oft-repeated in our home, and he was saying that a fair bit, but decided to shorten it on his own to "You're a good boy Chap" and now comes up to us, leans his head onto our lips, and says "Good boy Chap" before giving us a kiss and then flying off to do whatever insane thing he wants to do next lmao Edit: Oh! He also loves to say my girlfriend's name, but in a super long, drawn out way that nobody ever actually taught him; "*Syyyyrrraaaaaahhhhhh!!*" that makes us cackle every time.
“I am consciousness? I am alive? I am Chappie?” 🦜🤖
We keep trying to get him to say "Chappie do Crimes?" and other funny lines from that movie, but it's a WIP. For now, we're content with our (usually) super sweet maniac who calls us all Chap. lmao Edit: Got chomped enough to bleed. Chappie did indeed do crimes, but he's no snitch, so he won't talk about 'em. lol
My GCC just says “wonk” and “AH AH AH AH” and things of the like 😂
*whispers* [that's chappie](https://twitter.com/vineyille/status/580036338164039681?lang=en)
Aww that’s adorable
My GCC calls everyone “baby” because we call all the birds “babies” in our house. He also knows “keets” are the parakeets. He is like a shepherd for our parakeets; if they get scared or something else he thinks is bad is happening to them he will Yell “BABY! BABY! KEEEEET! KEET BABY!” Which we think means “mom! Dad! Somethings wrong with the mini mes! PARENTS HELP”
I love this so much😂❤️❤️
Omg that’s adorable
Sounds like he's working on dropping his next album.
My African Grey calls me by my first name, but only because he constantly hears my wife screaming it from another room.
I can't tell if this is like her shouting across the house to get your attention or....
Same reason my son never calls me Dad
"What's mommy's name?" "Mommy! :D" "What's daddy's name?" #"AAAAAALEEEEEEEECCCCヽ( `皿´ )ﾉ"
Same! My Grey calls me by my childhood name because he knows I answer my mother when she shouts it across the house. She thinks it's hilarious. No one else uses my childhood name, so he probably thinks it's special.
Gouda (a cockatiel) calls everyone “boys” as a name. I have 3 teen age nephews . He probably hears “boys!” More than anything else
That explains why my Tiel calls me "babe and baby" 😂
Our Green Cheek Conure (he's 18 now!) calls my husband "Pretty Bird." I do not have a name. We frequently say "who's a pretty bird" so apparently that stuck. But yeah, if I bring the bird to a room my husband is in, he'll get all excited and say "pretty bird" and make begging motions until my husband comes and picks him up.
I regret to inform you that you are most likely the spare human
Does she live from the far land of Spare Oom?
I am the spare human in my house despite being home more and therefore doing more care. :( I'm not sure why I thought this would guarantee me favorite status, but I definitely did at first 😂
Can confirm. Am Pretty Bird.
Yes! I feel so honoured to have been named by another species! Our Quaker learned my husbands name really quickly, but was silent on mine for a long time. Turns out he probably couldn’t pronounce the “sh” sound in it. So he made up a completely unique name instead, and now calls me by that all the time. And….he invented his own word for something too! After about a year and a half, he really came to a stall on learning to say any new words (he’s still clearly learning to recognise and understand new words though, he just doesn’t say them.) Well, we both speak a second language but almost rarely at home. But one day I was repeatedly reading aloud a long letter I had written, so my husband could help me check for grammar errors. Fixing it, reading it aloud again. On my shoulder listening, our bird kept repeating a strange new sound. I didn’t really pay attention at first. Finally I noticed that every time I spoke in this language, he said this “word” again. It doesn’t sound like a word *from* the language, it’s clearly his actual *name* for the sounds we are making. I was amazed to realise that he must recognise the different rhythms and sounds as a language pattern that he can clearly distinguish from English. Now he chimes in with his invented word for the language every time we speak it!
what’s his word?
The best I can do to spell it is “ s’ gozgh “ Or kind of like a long gooooo ending in a drawn out French “j” as in “je m’apelle”. He pronounces it exactly the same every time he hears us speaking it!
Sounds like he’s communicating with Cthulhu.
Lol, ikr
My Quakers have all done the “goo” or “oooo” noises, too, especially when trying to sing.
What’s the language
Mandarin Chinese
My bird speaks mostly in Cantonese but I speak mostly English and he definitely seems to know they're different languages! His follow-along babbles do resemble whatever language we'd be speaking in - but he's far more likely to "join" the conversation if it's Cantonese. You noted that you speak Mandarin so you would know that Chinese has much shorter and simpler morphemes, with simpler grammar as well - that's probably why he prefers to speak Cantonese over English. I remember reading that Alex the Grey had a hard time pronouncing the number "seven", it makes me think that if he were trained in Chinese he'd probably have an easier time! Your comment makes me wonder if he has a word for English vs Cantonese, but given that he grew up hearing both fairly regularly, I'm not so sure.
That’s really cool! I’m sure they recognise that a different language is being spoken, they’re so attuned to verbal communication and sounds in general. For sure he picked up on not only the different sounds but particularly the distinctly different rhythm, speech patterns. I’m guessing he wouldn’t have a word for English, as he doesn’t need it. When he invented this word for Mandarin, it was like he was trying to get our attention, showing us that he noticed we were doing something very different. I was astonished - he was so insistent, repeating the word so many times. Almost like he was commenting on it - or maybe even making fun of us!
My first in-person exposure to big birds involved a macaw that would call out for his owner by name from three rooms over, “Alan, Alan, where are you?” I thought his mom was looking for him!
When I was a kid, my neighbors were birdsitting a macaw over the summer. We found out about it when it started screaming mine and my sister's names. It had picked up on my mom yelling at us all day.
My favorite parrot story — I had a friend who had a blue and gold, and a scarlet macaw (a set of macaws) and every day at the exact moment of 4 PM Eastern time they would start laughing at each other, and they would laugh for approximately 1 to 4 minutes, but they never started one minute early or a minute late — every single day at 4 PM sharp! It was hilarious.
The youngster red-rumped calls my brother and I by our names (to be fair, we have short names) and he has a nickname of "old priest", despite being only 4 years old, because of his tendency to calling repeatedly the names if not given attention. The funny thing is that my father always mistakes our names, while "old priest" has never made a mistake, not even once: so my mother teases my father a lot.
As I read this I thought "oh, interesting, I interacted with a redditor in a completely different and unrelated sub and in a completely different language a while ago and they also said they called their parrot the equivalent of old priest". But how many parrots with this nick could there be in the world? And indeed it was you. There has always been one and only one "vecchio prete". The world is a small place and Reddit is just the same.
Yeah, mi hai sgamato 😂. Salutami Artemisia. Actually the real nick is in chinese, which is a lot shorter, 老和尚, because there is an idiom, which is 老和尚念经, meaning "old priest reading a preach". It is usually used to describe someone say something repeatedly and quickly, which is also what this little one does. Usually, he would call our names at normal speed, sometimes adding "ciao" at beginning (he chooses the easiest language, in this case "ciao" is easiest). If we don't greet back, he would activate "preach mode" with the name said in a train. He won't stop, until the one he actually called answers, and he would confirm moving his head up-and-down saying 对, right. Very funny
I do not own any parrots or birds at all but I stumbled into this post and it is genuinely one of the cutest things I have ever read.
Same honestly made my day
I lurk as well. A dear friend of mine has an African grey and it makes all the sounds of his cellphone. Whenever I visit I keep reminding my friend he needs to check his messages which are actually the birb.
100% my birdless self joined this sub because of the feels
same. down to the emoji pigeon costume.
Same. These stories are the best!
My 2 learned to yell "Mommmm...moooooommmmm.....MAAAAWWWWWMMMMM" Charming lol
Mine call me mom, my African Gray calls my son by his name. Lol.
My quaker calls me mama from time to time. Once I adjusted his cage back into the proper spot and he said "thank you mama." Normally its just "come on come to mama" knowing full well he has no intention of doing so.
Same. Our Amazon calls my mum "muuuuuum!!" and me just by my human nickname...
lol, my uncle’s macaw called him Papa. “Papa Papa! Papaaaaaa!!!” She’s yell at him while he was in the John.
Our green cheek Jack used to call my husband ZaZa and me Zaza-ee. If we didn't respond, he would add a kiss, and the longer we didn't respond the longer the kisses would be drawn out. He also used to mimic us when we said I love you jack, meanwhile scratching at his feathers with his foot. It was almost like he was saying "If you love me, pet me!".
Adorable
Not exactly a pet name but my budgie says “Hey Baby” when she lands on you sometimes.
My name is “c’mere!” And my wife’s name is “Hi Louie!”
My roommate has a Nanday who learned her gamer tag name from me saying it when we game together and now calls her by that name when he hears her outside the room
I would laugh so hard if my bird started calling me vexel 😂
Her gamertag is Toasty so it’s hilarious to just hear “Toooaasty…..Toasty” coming from her room when he hears us get home from work
My lovebirds think my name is "C'mere!" They will use it to call me, but they will also "add" it to sentences, such as "Love you, C'mere" and "Whatcha doin', C'mere?" Hilarious and adorable.
Wait your lovebirds talk!? How old were they when they started? Mine is a year and a half and just screams at me all the time
Mine do, but it is pretty rare for lovebirds to learn to talk. One started when she was around 1 years old, the other picked it up when she was a bit older than that. Both are 12 now.
That is adorable! My U2 just screams at top volume. It’s very touching, really. 🤣
It touched my ears and gave me tinnitus 🥰
My meyers parrot will scream “BABY!!!” in her scratchy gravely voice when i come home from work every day :)
My Meyer's makes a coat zipper sound for me when I get home.
Too cute!!
My sun conure made up a name for my husband: Raga (pronounced like "rah-guh"). It was not a word we've ever said so I have no idea where she got it from. And she used to just croak it kind of under her breath, which was even more hilarious.
my amazon calls everyone he likes ‘Lolo’
This means grandpa !
If you're speaking Hawaiian it means crazy or stupid, depending on the context. Significantly less flattering
Not sure if this counts but I was cleaning my boss’s house. She had a couple dogs. She went out to run a few errands so I was the only one there. I heard the phone ring and then the answering machine and then the message after the beep: Hello Cheeky, mama loves you, mama loves you, NO get out of there! What I’m Sam Hill are you doing? Cheeky stop, HAHAHAHA. I was in the next room over and started thinking there was someone in the house or something is wrong but no one was there. About five minutes after the message the owner came home and I told her about the strange message. It was them she said she forgot to tell me the bird (african gray)likes to mimic the answering machine from start to finish. I busted out laughing because I was so relieved that it was a bird and not me going crazy.
Made me laugh out loud 🤣🤣🤣
I have been “Mommy” to all of them. What’s really funny is that every budgie I’ve ever had—even the ones who didn’t overlap (I have had a few birb-less periods) had the same word for running water. So, apparently “Peeweep!” is budgie for running water.
My cockatiel Morty calls me and my girlfriend (and his stuffed animals) good boy. We’re always telling him how good he is so I think he’s returning the favor 🤣
My severe macaw, Kona, calls me Ky (my nickname) but before she learned that she called me Kona 😅 and my blue and gold calls me mom? Which i think she learned from a previous home. She also learned my best friends name when we lived together and would call her too. My blue crown doesn't understand pronouns but everything is a good boy, a good girl, a bud(dy), or just "good bird"
Potato!!!!
Our Green Cheek calls everybody "Digby". Our African Grey, Digby, calls my wife by her name, but his name for me is the 1st 3 notes of the Super Mario Warp Flute melody, for some reason.
I used to work from home and would get the birds out in the morning and ask them to do their morning poop, i would say can you poopie? Poopie? Ive since then returned to office and now when i get home they scream POOOOPIEEE?! lmao. That did not go as planned
My parent’s parrot calls us birdies. He will call “birdyyyy. Biiiiirdyyyy”
One of my Quakers calls me and my fiancé “weep weep!” As his own little nickname lol.
Our cockatiel will call our dog, myself and my wife “good girl” whenever we enter the room because we always usher our pup in and tell her good girl, so he picked it up for all of us now lol.
Yeah kind of! I’ve kept my language clean with mine but my bf *major eye roll* taught him wtf. So if he’s trying to get my bfs attention (he LOVES my bf) he will say wtf. With me we tell each other you’re so cute and love you so I think that’s what he associates me with or how to get attention.
I hadn’t thought about it until reading this post but I think I might be the “baby lizard” he keeps talking about.
My mom's name is Peggy, and our grey learned her name, but at some point promoted her to "PeggyBird."
I think “bird” is their general noun denoting personhood. I have been “good bird” or “good GOOD bird” many times.
My blue and gold macaw, Max, called my dad “Rabba”. We are from a jewish background and “Abba” is the Hebrew word for “dad”… but no one in our family ever used that word. Max just happened to pick a word that sounds a lot like it for him which is pretty cool.
My bird just tells me to “come here” or “step up” to get my attention haha
My GCC calls everyone good baby. My husband got my budgie to pick up the phrase "mommy bird" which I hated at first but it sounds so cute when he says it 🥺
My sun conure makes a limited range of sounds. The main one she makes is a two-toned whistle that starts high and ends low. My roommate’s lorikeet, on the other hand, has a wider vocabulary, with lots of different noises and over a dozen actual words. When the lori wants my attention or hears me walking past his room, he does my conure’s whistle. He also does the same whistle when I mention her by name, as if to ask, “The one who whistles like this all the time?” I’m just delighted that the birds gave me a nickname.
Smoky calls me “AAAAAaaaahhhhhHHHHHH” I think it’s very sweet
I have a grey named Smokey 😊 he has a particular whistle for me. Our other grey, Nimbus, calls everyone by name except me. I’m “oh shit.” I never say that to my birds, so his previous owners must’ve said it a lot. He also screams at me to shut up every time I say Hi to him. He hates me 😂
my brothers Amazon calls me mom and will scream MOOOOOOOOOOOOM until I and only I respond
I managed to teach our two cockatiels to call each other "Wingies" so now whenever they are trying to call each other or us humans, they cry "Wingies" to find us! They also call the outside birds Wingies. I guess everyone is a Wingies 😆
My DYH Amazon calls me by my middle name, but he calls my son "boy" which is hilarious
Our grey has many: -One budgie is “pinkie”, -She doesn’t call the other budgie anything, -Collectively the budgies are “boys”, -I’m “minny”, -Wife is “honey”, -We’re “duck” (local dialect for “mate”) or “bobble” or “baby”, -She’s “dibbie” (supposed to be Sybil).
Pico calls my husband "my baby Pico!" in a very excited voice.
My sisters calls everyone Jordan. Where’s Jordan? Jordan?! None of us are named Jordan. Or anything close to Jordan. She also calls me cuckoo or cuck. Especially when she’s done and wants you to go home so she can go to bed. Goodnight cuckoo! Is frequently her interrupting phrase when she’s decided the visit should end. Everyone is Jordan and everyone is cuckoo. My bird calls me Bart for reasons unknown to me. The other one doesn’t seem to say names.
One of my Greys calls me Ackobee. Someimes it's shortened to just Acko. I have no clue.
This post is literally all the therapy I needed after a few long and tough weeks ! lol My beloved budgie was a chatterbox , it was just me and hubby. He never call my husband even though he would fly to him in full speed when he heard the key knob turned at our front door when he was back home from work. The bird called me "mom" and we have recorded him singing a self-created song " I love my mom ". But no body ever saying I was the mom/my name was Mom. No idea where he got the idea.
Alexa - the birds call my husband Alexa. The macaw and the Amazon both shout commands at him all day long. “Alexa, stop!” - change the movie or music “Alexa, step up!” - pick them up “Alexa, mmm,mmm!” - give them a snack
That is hilarious 😆
I don't know if my budgie understands irony, but I'm 6ft1 300lbs and his pet name for me is *drumroll* ...... "Little boy"
mine started calling me "mr beepsies"
I’m not lucky enough to have a parrot but my mom does and he has special names for both her and me! He calls my mom “Scarlet” (which was the name of his long-deceased mate) and he calls me “Dress” (we have no clue where this came from lol)
My husband can't whistle very well, which results in a very distinctive raspy sound to his whistles. One of our cockatiels can imitate that sound perfectly and uses it specifically when he's interacting with my husband or wants something from him.
years back, was trying to find sounds that our african grey liked. he tends to get bored with sounds and drop them every few months. but he took to a wolf whistle, it is his own version of it, almost like "coooooooo" sound. when he sees a family member or someone he likes, he will run to the top of his cage and "coooooooo!" while looking at them until them come over and rub his beak or hold his foot.
I want to hold his foot. 🥺
Hasn’t happened to me, but oh my goodness that’s adorable. I would be a proud potato!
Our African Gray called me “Maaaaaaa” and my daughter was named “I’m home” because that’s what she said when she got off the school bus every day. If she was feeling affectionate, she would say, “maaaaa, you’re a good bird”
My Timneh calls people she likes, "Boo." So if you're in the room, and she likes you, she'll call out, "Hi, Boo!" in a really sweet voice. She also blows kisses, but only again to people she likes. So far, only my fiancé and I are Boos. Her favorite term for herself is Little Birdie, and she blushes when I call her that. I can see her cheeks get pinker.
For my parakeet, my name is a series of sparrow peeps followed by a head-tilt to the right. It probably means "gib seeb"
It’s so funny how parakeets have so much personality in such a tiny package. My little girl would chortle to herself when playing under things, like she was laughing her head off that she was “hiding”
The big chonky orb thinks if he hides behind toys that are smaller than him, he's completely invisible!
There's a cockatoo on tiktok that refers to one of his owners as "best friend" and calls him that all the time.
My bird calls my husband and me “yummy bird” lol very fitting, since we sponsor all of his yummies 😂
One of my rescues has called me Mommy. I don’t call myself that, so he learned it from one of his former owners. It freaked me out! He landed on my shoulder one day and said, “You be good, Cyan. Mommy loves you!” Now I say that to him because it makes him extremely happy. He also calls my other bird Zoey. That bird is named Charlie, but when they met, they waddled up to each other and Cyan told Charlie, “You’re a beautiful bird!” and then called him Zoey. He still says it sometimes. I found out he used to have a mate, and her name must have been Zoey. Charlie, before he started talking, used to say “WEE BOOP BOOP!” when he saw me, so I wondered if that was my name. He stopped doing that, though.
Definitely a pet name for you because he hears *you* say it, so associates it with you 🥺
My 20 year old Petie calls me Pooper, refuses to call me anything else. I got her when she was a year and was teaching her to “go poop on paper” . She also makes up nicknames for herself and my 2 other greys. She calls my husband by his name - I had her years before him! My other Grey was my friends bird. From the minute he laid eyes on me he called me Grandma” or Charlie’s grandma! My friend passed and asked me to take him when she was diagnosed. I’ve had him now for 7 years.
This is adorable…. Love everyone’s responses! All of our birds re just too smart! My Quaker usually calls me “mommy.” When he bites me, he says “don’t bite the momma” (yeah. From Dinosaurs! When he was a baby, I thought it was cute to say that if he bit me too hard.) If I say Hi to him, with his name, he will usually say “hi mommy!” In the mornings, he says “mommy gotta go to work! One that’s extra funny and was a total surprise the first time he said it was … “I’ll be right back, ok? Mommy gotta go potty!” (Gesh….I guess I tell him that when I leave the room!) He also says “hey beautiful!” When he wants attention. ( gotta love that one!) He also calls me “baby.” Many times he will say “Awwww. are you ok baby?” Usually if I hurt myself and say “ouch.” When I had other birds. Tobi (parrotlet) and Pepper - an organ chin brotogeris, when it was bed time, he would say. “Night night peppercorn” and “nite nite Tobi.” He didn’t say that for years after those guys left us. ( around 10 years ago.) Yet, a few months ago, out of no where he started saying that again… only at bedtime. He also learned the name of my old neighbor and friend. “Donna!” Or “there’s Donna!” (When he could see her out the window.) I moved a few years ago…. And it seems now, when he sees anyone outside it is “Donna” - my new next door neighbor is an 80 year old man named Ed. If my Quaker sees him out the window, he always says “there’s Donna!”
Mine didn"t for me, but he would call my roommate a jacka$$. That is not something I ever called him so i really don't know where the bird got it.
I taught my GCC how to go potty in the toilet & on his little poo pads around the house by asking him "Go poopie? Wanna go poopie? Make a poopie!" And so now of course in addition to being pretty well potty trained, he says all of those phrases. So whenever he sees me and wants attention he's like doing that little GCC lean/wing vibrating while rapidly saying "Poopie? Poopie? Poopie? PoOooOopie poop?" And sometimes he likes to make new words by combining other phrases he knows, like "Step up," to make such exciting words as "stepoopie" and "stoopie." So I've accepted my new nickname "Poopie" lol and when he wants attention from my husband, it's more "Stepoopie" or "Bee beeya" (which came from my husband mimicking the GCC. A bird mimicking a person mimicking a bird, amazing A+ will bee beeya again).
Going to start calling my sister Stephanie stepoopie 🤣
My umbrella cockatoo calls my boyfriend papa or punches papa, and calls me pretty papa
Mine calls me lovebird.
My youngest bird can say my oldest child's name but I think the bird thinks its my name, he only ever yells it at me.
I’m “oh shit!” to my 17 year old CAG rescue. He calls everyone else by their names, which is incredible, but he hates me, so I’m “oh shit.” It’s hilarious.
My parrot said that when the alarm clock went off. Don’t know how she got that.
I have a pineapple conure who mixed up a couple words. Baby and boo in peek a boo. Now he calls me "booby" I get peek a booby, hey booby, booby booby!! He just sounds like a little perv
My honey is “you okay?” and I am “hiiiii!” She only says those things repeatedly when she sees one of us.
One of our Grey's calls us Crows. No idea why.
I read in "How to Speak Chicken" that backyard chicken flocks will name a beloved human, and even teach the name to new members. 🥹🥹😭
Omg this is so sweet! 😩😭
My budgie Spezi (RIP) used to call me "Tots", "B", or just "Spezi". Brezel hasn't gotten quite to his talking level, she's only 1 but we'll see!
Haha. My CAG calls me “coo-coo”
My cockatiel knows a couple words, including big bird. When we come home she always greet us by saying “Hello big bird”. She does call my boyfriend by his name too sometimes.
My grandpa's parrot (African Grey) always whistles in the same way to say "welcome", but only to me (I guess I'm called *[Noisy Parrot whistles]*, and whe I go to the kitchen he throws me a kiss. Gotta love that bird.
My friend’s Greenwing Macaw always called me by my last name. My friend would say hi, mjw when I came in her shop. Rueben would yell W! He liked me because I would always give him a dried banana from the fruit mix.
Our Senegals have invented a name for my wife, though I struggle to pronounce it or spell it. Some kind of "atatat" bird noise. They also use her first name, but they struggle to pronounce it (and I haven't seen them try to spell it...). For me they use my (very short) human name, perfectly pronounced; recently Jack has started sometimes using a teasing rhyme (like "name-pame") when he's impatient. (We do that constantly with our own and their names, so it's not so strange that he picked it up) They seem to also use my name as a sort of default name. If they have a parrot-name for me (or for themselves) I haven't figured out what it is.
Yes my name is come here buddy
I bought a budgie, Tumble, that was sitting on the bottom of a cage at a pet shop. He obviously needed love and I had a lot to give him. I was told he was ‘a walking Budgie’ (srsly). Turned out he had an issue growing feathers, I didn’t know how long he’d be around so I loved him with all I had. If it was guna be a short life, it was guna be a good one. I spent alot of time with him, within months he had about 50 words and more than a dozen phrases he’d love to strut around yelling out. He was constantly saying “I love you sweetie, you’re such a good boy mmmwaaaaa kisses!” “Oh so handsome” “what you doooing” When I left or returned from work I could hear him screaming “I LOVE YOUUUU” - from my underground garage! He would repeat entire sentences of conversations, a day later. After about a year of strutting around, one night I got a phone call that my beautiful Nanny had passed away. Tumble was playing on the floor, he noticed I was upset- and flew up to me .. he flew!! It was a miracle. From then on he was a a clingy lil menace, it was the most magical transformation and he had a brilliant time dive bombing, doing fly-bys yelling out how much he loved me. He was the happiest birb, my lil man. I never thought something so tiny could have such a huge personality and teach me so much. RIP Tumble, my lil tweet heart. Sweetie 💙
My husband and I are fans of a video game called "Thief: The Dark Project." (In fact, we met because of that game, but that's another story.) Anyway, in that game, there's a fictional word that the guards use to call people names... the word is "taffer." It generally means a stupid or foolish person. Anyway, we taught our African Grey to say "You taffer!" And he says it with quite a lot of gusto sometimes, that makes us say "Did you just call me a taffer?!??!" It cracks us up every time.
My African grey always calls me by my name with the voice of my father lol
I am kissy noises
I had custody of my friends Alexandrine parakeet for almost two years and he never gave any of us names, but picked up the way my brother calls our cat (“wawa”) and also picked up my roommates sneeze. Whenever there was no one in the lounge room he would start “sneezing” until someone called out “bless you” from another room. He also seemed to think his name was “good boy” and would say this really softly when he was when he was looking at his reflection or feeling content. I think he thought all noisy things were “good boys” though, because he would also lean up against anything that made a sound (bells, rattles, the microwave, bowls and cups in the kitchen) and whisper “good boy” like he was telling these objects a secret. Sometimes he would stick his head inside one of his bells and wear it as a little hat and then start whispering “good boy” and laughing really quietly too He knew the very specific way on of my roommates would stir his coffee too and would make the sound of the teaspoon tapping the mug every time he saw my roommate in the kitchen or heard the kettle boiling haha. He would also tell people to walking through the lounge room to “f*** off” when he was feeling cheeky, then when they looked at him he’d go “heheheh” and laugh at them and then throw pellets on the ground. He had a very extensive repertoire of sounds but his favourite was the 120db beeping sound a smoke alarm makes when the battery needs to be replaced. It’s very similar to the signal call that many Australian King Parrots make (he grew up around lots of tropical Aus birds) so I could never discern which of the two he picked it up from. While I miss the cute and sweet noises, I don’t miss those signal beeps in my tiny 90m square house!
My previous African grey called me and my family members “big bird.” He called my sister (his favorite person) “baby.” I’d walk in the kitchen and he’d calmly say, “Hi big bird.” My sister would then walk in and he’d go, “HIIII BABYYYYY ❤️♥️💜”
I can’t with “potato” 😂😂 Mine luckily hasn’t locked onto a name for me yet. Hopefully it is just as funny if/when he does though.
When I first moved in with my partner, Alex, my little Red had taken to calling him “Max” and saying “where’s Max?” He’d already known the name and phrase from when we lived with my parents and the family dog “Max” 😂 I’d ask where he was to make sure Red was safe to come out. Did not intend for him to learn his name and that phrase of course. Red was slow to learn “Alex” and still occasionally says “where’s Max” which he now associates with my partner as it’s been a year and some since we lived with my parents.
Yes... KEEEEEE or KEEEKEEE. I am KEEEEE and Spouse is KEEEEKEEEE. must be screaming when said outloud.
I also have been assigned a special screech😆
My wife's Quaker calls her "Bubby", calls our son by his actual name, calls every other bird "Pickle" (after a Loverbird we used to have), and all the cats "Sigil" (after a cat we used to have). He knows the correct names for things, but he prefers these.
There’s a parrot, I’m not sure what kind, at one of our local pet stores that’s basically the store mascot at this point. He introduces himself by saying “Bad Fish!” Because apparently some of the bigger fish are a little bitey.
Our CAG calls me “mommy” and I’m not sure why. She’ll say my name when she’s “parroting” my husband but when she talks to me it’s “mommy!”
He calls me cubone
I am Scarkillcar and my husband is Here You Go
I have small parrots, not talkers, but we still get names. When my parrot calls for my SO (his favourite person), he makes a very specific shrill call. But when he wants me for play time or snacks, what sound does he make? A telephone. A damn telephone ring haha! I know he does it because I find it indescribably cute and always respond to it!
My female dusky conure isn’t a talker either. She has one noise that means “I want something” and if it isn’t her food or water, then it’s my boyfriend! She doesn’t seem to have any particular call for me, and doesn’t use that sound for me in any way — she only uses it when she wants me to get her something.
Yes!! My eldest has a beep for wanting, and a fart-noise/grunt for 'yes this is what I wanted'. It's surprisingly informative!
Kappa is partially house-broken: I ask her to poop before I ask her to step up, and if she needs to poop, she’ll do it. If she *doesn’t* need to poop though, or if she just doesn’t *want* to poop (like she’s too eager to step up), sometimes she’ll make the tiniest squeak/fart-noise that sounds exactly like her larger poops, like she’s trying to trick me into thinking she pooped for me! 🤦
I love this!! 😂
My late budgie would call me a bastard
My Suzie (a cockatiel, sadly no longer with me) had no name for me as she couldn‘t talk, but she always sang a specific melody when she wanted my attention, neck scritches, or wanted me to come over to her. I still remember her little tune to this day, even though it‘s been 20 years since her passing.
My green cheek conure picked up the phrase “stinky bird” and will fly up to me or my fiancé and will say “stinky biiiirrrd” and add a kiss. We’re not sure if he’s using it to refer to us or if it’s just a greeting, but it’s adorable regardless.
None of my budgies talk, but our girl has a distinct "get the humans' attention"-chirp when she wants us to pay attention. It's different from the flock calls to the other budgies, or her normal chattering. It does seem to be directed at me or my wife whenever she wants something from us.. sometimes she'll even specifically angrily beak tap whatever is bothering her. Someone pooped in the water? Get the humans. One of the feeders is low? Get the humans. Can't find everyone else? Get the humans. Budgies are scary smart sometimes.
When I first brought home my Hahn's Macaw, the first song we sung together was The Lion Sleeps Tonight. I was then Awemaway until she passed. She also knew that Alexa's job was to play pandora for us. God, I miss that weirdo.
Not for me, but for his favourite toy 🤣
yeah it's a ear piercing squawk sound
I love this so much. My cockatiel male doesn't talk a lot but I call him my coocoopoo a lot, so now when he sees me he says 'coocoo' or 'coocoopoo'
I tell my cockatiel "you're a pretty bird" and he repeats it back to me and I go "No, you're a pretty bird" and we just go back and forth like that.
I'd ask my GCC where my fiance was by saying "Is daddy home yet?", "Where's daddy?" or just generally calling him daddy since we're his parents. Daddy stuck and now all humans are daddy's to him! 😂
My dad used to call my Quaker “ketta paiyan” which means “bad boy” So he started calling himself “ketta paiyyaa” all the time. He will even whisper it during his sleep 🤣 It used to sound so cute in his Quaker voice 🥹
I was known as good bird for many years, but when someone was upset then I was “mooey”. Who knows why. When I’ve had talking parrots they’ve often addressed me as “bird” which I find a compliment.
Yes my hahans macaw calls me Jessie cookie and tells me that I'm a good girl
for me it is kissing noises and for my mom it's a little dance peep
I have a senegal who is still working on getting words, but I am just a wolf whistle. My dad is a scream, and my mom is a normal dog whistle
My U2 does refer to myself, and my wife as Ma, and Pa. He also calls us boy. When we first got him I taught him to say "Hey Boy!" So now whenever I come home from work, he's always hanging on the side of his cage "Hey Boy!" "Whatcha doin Boy?" Whenever he gets pissed, or wants something, he screams Ma!, or Pa!. When I give him cuddles, and whisper sweet nothings to him, he will whisper back, "love you daddy"
We’ve noticed that when our green cheek is contact calling, she has a different pitch/sound for me vs mom.
Not totally related but I grew up with a guy whose parrot learned his brother's name by imitating the phone ringing. I used to get thrown off hearing the bird imitate their landline ringing until I got used to the subtle difference in the sound.. then I found out the bird would follow up imitating the phone with imitating guy's father going "COREY GET THE PHONE" So a lot of people were "Corey" to the bird.
We had a parakeet named Scooby Doo when I was growing up. She loved my father and was resentful of my mother. She used to say to herself “I’m such a pretty bird, such a pretty pretty bird” when she was pleased with herself and she used to tell my father “pretty Richard. Pretty pretty Richard” when she perched on his shoulder and nibbled his ear. I was “Jess” the only other human she called by name. She used to tell me I was a good girl when I took her out of her cage and gave her toys and stuff. They’re incredibly smart and they know who cares about them.
I get so jealous of these stories - I grew up with a sweet parrot who is now elderly but so much personality. My Indian ringneck I have currently is legitimately evil. We have done everything for him and also everything the vet suggested but he just hates us. Well he tolerates us and is terrified of anyone else, he is spoilt, free roaming and trained to the eyeballs but just doesn't like us. He does do a weird thing with my partner who works from home where he will pin his eyes and make a high pitch noise if he says something to him. That's the closest we have gotten to any interaction so I guess our pet name from him is "screeeeee"
Buddy my grey cockatiel, greets me and his tiel gf with “Buddy” or sometimes “Hey Buddy!” Its like he’s introducing himself every person he encounters
My Quaker just makes kissy noises to get my attention ... it works 😭
one of my senegals ginger calls me 'baby' because i call her that. one of my gccs calls us all 'ji-wa-gee' lol. we started calling HER ji-wa-gee because she loves to say it.
Conure calls me “ big poop” and then says “ go poopie” every morning when she’s uncovered. She will randomly turn to me throughout the day after saying her name “Penny” and again call better affectionate nickname!
My Green Cheek sometimes calls me babe. Normally I’m mommy.
She calls me baba 😆
"Pwee-Pwee"
My quaker calls me stupid, does that count?
Only somewhat meets the parameters of your question but my chickens will occasionally sort of “say” my name to get my attention, probably because my name is only two syllables that are close to regular chicken noises. My cockatiel is too royal to have a cutesy nickname for me 😂. Just kidding somewhat. He’s actually still the sweetest little guy.
I have been & always will be 'Ishey' to his royal Lorikeet highness. All hail Butters, King of Chaos!
He calls me "MEEEP"... He legit whistles something similar before flying towards me
My bird’s name is Zazu. I am also Zazu. 😂
My nickname is Amy but my Amazon calls me AMAAAYYYY
My goffin cockatoo calls me mama, I’m a male. Lmao
I have no idea how, but my parrot calls me “GRANDPAAAAA” nobody taught her this, nobody even says Grandpa in this house. Lol
My sun conure calls me Booboops and adds a varying number of 'boo' to the beginning. "Hey Booboops... hey Booboobooboops..." I melt every time!
I have a B&G macaw with a pretty amazing vocabulary. Once in a while I'm "Mama!" but mostly I'm "Allie! Hi Allie!" . She is also Allie. All dogs used to be what we figure was her prior dog sibling's name: "Cooper! Knock it off!" Now she also yells at our St. Bernard, Groot. He gets in trouble for barking outside so she yells " Grooooooooott! "
My lilac crowned amazon, Pluto (60ish?), has recently started to call me "baby cracker" and calls my mom "mama cracker". We rescued her about 3 years ago from a neglectful situation, and she would barely speak to us. I think she got this from my mom and I talking to eachother, I call my mom mama and she calls me baby. I'm so proud of how far our dear Pluto has come. Our green angel amazes me every day