Loading ...African Greys are the smartest of all the birds I know of. An old friend from way back used to breed them at his remote forest home up on a mountain here. I always admired the ‘greys’.
Pepe’ is an impulsive teenager yet. Although he is human-bonded, apparently he was never well trained. He does not know the ‘step up’ command and will bite at fingers, rather than perch on them. I have to put him on my arm. There is a flock of wild Amazon parrots around Punchbowl hill in Honolulu… some domestic escapees from years back, and now there is a flock of at least a half dozen wild ones around. They make a loud, screeching racket when they fly… a screech with every flap of the wings it seems. Pepe’ must have heard them and picked up their shrill call, as that’s the one he uses when he’s displeased or doesn’t get enough attention. We’re trying to replace that with a ‘Hello’ for greeting/locator call. He does a crude ‘hello’ with a two-tone whistle/squeak. He says a rather clear ‘scratch scratch’ in a low gutteral croak when he presses his head against the cage and wants a ‘scratch scratch’…. which is ALL the time!
About the only thing he really knows how to do is fly to the nearest human and perch on the shoulder… or in the hair. I have lots of training to do with him yet.