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The person I got our Gracie from advised us to NOT whistle to her. Also, if she whistled we were to ignore it. What are your thoughts on this? I'm guessing it has to do with her becoming a talker, not a whistler. And second question. We want to create the "contact call" which in my thoughts would be a whistle. Help? Thanks!

If you don't mind your bird whistling at you, I can't see why it would be a problem. Mine enjoy it when we whistle to them and they've learnt a few whistles too.

Ellie.

I guess you could encourage a contact word, but I personally would be more likely to welcome a whistle.  Seriously, Rocky and I will whistle the same whistles back and forth till I get sick of it. I can't think I'd welcome a human word, however cute, half so long.

I have long heard that it is easier for a bird to whistle than talk, and so if you teach it to whistle it will then not ever talk. Presumably because it has learned the easier thing it is too lazy or stupid to learn the other? Although I have absolutely nothing to go on but my gut, my gut tells me this is poppycock.

My 2 cents.

I agree with missk, Nila knows a few whistles and talks up a storm too. He also does a few wild bird calls.
Some birds are big talkers and others aren't though.

There is some truth to it. But it doesn't mean your bird won't talk. Whistling requires less stretching of the vocal chords. So the theory is if they learn to whistle first they won't want to challenge the vocal chords to talk. I guess for some birds it's true. But with hard work, if your bird is meant to talk she will talk.

MissK wrote:I guess you could encourage a contact word, but I personally would be more likely to welcome a whistle.  Seriously, Rocky and I will whistle the same whistles back and forth till I get sick of it. I can't think I'd welcome a human word, however cute, half so long.

I have long heard that it is easier for a bird to whistle than talk, and so if you teach it to whistle it will then not ever talk. Presumably because it has learned the easier thing it is too lazy or stupid to learn the other? Although I have absolutely nothing to go on but my gut, my gut tells me this is poppycock.

My 2 cents.

It IS often true with cockatiels. But I have never heard of this happening in other species.

We had a cockatiel for almost 20 years. We taught him first to whistle. Then he also learned to talk quite a bit. He did both excellent! I guess it all depends on the bird...
Since having Gracie, I've become to really miss CoCo (cockatiel) I'm trying to remember all the "back when" stuff. I'm also feeling so sad that I should have done more for him. We did lots but it's just that I'm thinking I could have done so much more for him. Like make these silly paper bags with "stuff" in them for him to dig around, like I'm doing with Gracie.....ugh...Why am I feeling so much about Coco? Darn we gave that bird such an awesome life. Ok, I'm weird tonight. Must be hormones. sigh.
RIP CoCo..you silly bird.

Aw, I'm sure Coco had a delightful life with you! We can only do the best we can with the knowledge we have at the time. 20 years ago advice on foraging, training and keeping parrots was very different from what it is now.

I agree. A long time ago I had a beautiful little black stray cat. She was straight from Heaven to me, and I loved her and needed her so. I did right by her with regards to the vet and the spay, carefully managed her environment, but I got her vaccinations every year and I fed her whatever was on sale. I just didn't know any better. She died of cancer, and I carry the guilt to this day. I will never let it go. I can't. It's been 25 years.

So, feel whatever you feel. It's very hard to change that. But remember that you did do your best, and that your bird was well loved and well cared for. Also, you learned since then, and your Coco paved the way for Gracie.

Hi patti

I feel the same about the lovebirds I had as a teenager. I'm too embarrassed to admit how I sometimes neglected them. We didn't know about quarantining new birds back then and one day we caught a lovebird that flew in (lovebirds are not native to Australia, so any that you find in suburban areas have escaped from a cage or aviary). Within a month, all of the birds were dead... it was really awful.

But as MissK said, you can only learn and move on. I'm sure your cockatiel knew how much you loved him. Maybe you could write an entry in the Rainbow Bridge section of this forum.

Ellie.