Instead of posting Readers’ Wildlife Photos today, I have a YouTube video about a cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus), and one reader’s experience with those birds.
First, reader Diane G. called my attention to a Guardian column from last year by Grrlscientist about cockatiels, “This talented parrot thinks he’s a songbird.” After giving some information about the species, Grrlscientist gets onto the really good stuff—its famous vocal mimicry:
Male cockatiels (but not females) can learn to whistle a variety of songs — which I think of as being their true talent — and can also learn to mimic the human voice. An interesting — and very unusual for parrots — trait of cockatiels is that their ability to learn new sounds is limited by age. Most parrots learn to produce new sounds throughout their lives — a character known as “open ended learning” in songbirds. But in my experience, cockatiels’ song learning abilities diminish rapidly after they’ve passed their first birthday. In songbirds, this trait is known as “closed ended learning”.
The cockatiel in the above video is truly remarkable because the song he is whistling is quite complex and long, yet he produces it effortlessly. Someone invested a lot of effort into training that little parrot to whistle that song! And as if that isn’t remarkable enough, he also whistles his song whilst being accompanied on piano!
I think that the delightful musical piece that the cockatiel is whistling is the theme from the Japanese fantasy film, “My Neighbor Totoro”, but I am certain you’ll correct me if I’m wrong. [Readers can weigh in here.]
And here’s the vido, apparently from Russia, which I find quite remarkable:
When I remarked on that amazing performance, Diane G. added her own experience owning these birds, which includes a cool tale:
Per Grrl, “Someone invested a lot of effort into training that little parrot to whistle that song! And as if that isn’t remarkable enough, he also whistles his song whilst being accompanied on piano!”
My male ‘tiels would pick up lots of sounds automatically, like the sound of the back-door opening which would freak me out when they’d imitate it while I was all alone in the house. . . And they’d learn whistles quite easily, though longer ones took more effort. I remember once when my husband, who gets up at the crack of dawn, let the dogs out, only to have one of them get skunked pretty badly. . . so of course, he comes and wakes me up. The last thing I wanted to hop out of bed and do was wash a stinky dog, so I thought I’d just confine it to the mudroom until I wanted to get up “officially.” Theodore, the cockatiel whose cage was also in the mudroom, didn’t think very highly of that idea, and he started whistling reveille* over and over at the top of his lungs, which in that case I think meant ‘get this *expletive* smelly dog outta here!!’ Suffice it to say I ended up not returning to bed…
*Note: “Reveille is the wake-up called played by bugles to American soldiers in the morning. It’s jarring, and you can hear it here.
If you’ve had a cockatiel (and I know some of you have), weigh in below. Musicians are also welcome to assess the bird’s performance.
The Cockatiel is great , the accompanist needs a little practice, brings to mind a Mynah Bird that used to inhabit the Public (men only) Bar of a Pub I used to frequent 50+ years ago naturally being amongst the men the mouth on that Bird was wonderful to hear. But this has to be the best I,ve evr heard of a Mimicking Bird.
Mockingbirds (the US ones I’ve heard) are no slouches at mimicry.
It does sound like the theme for Tortoro.
Great story, Diane:-). I would probably have throttled the reveille-whistling boid.
No, no. Theodore was a sweetheart! We got him as a hand-fed baby and had him for 19 years.
My husband’s the one I wanted to throttle…
I did somewhat regret teaching Theodore reveille, though… 🙄
The melody is definitely from ‘Tonari no Totoro’ – one of the greatest films about childhood ever made: Miyazaki Hayao’s observation is so acute and sensitive and unsentimental.
All of his productions are wonderful and wonderfully exotic to this Westerner. My kids are much older now, but they still melt into a puddle when they see anything about Spirited Away.
Yes, all his productions are extraordinary. In addition to the quality of his observation, he has the ability to create memorable characters, and he is one of the best story-tellers I know.
Growing up we had a parakeet which learned over a hundred words and phrases. His longest phrase was,
“Let me out of this cotton pickin’ cage!”
I would rather have that cockatiel in my house than this parrot.
Sorry, I only intended to give the address, not post the video itself.
We just sold our cockatiel. My husband really wanted the bird so I said “why not”? (In retrospect, I wish I had researched these birds before I said yes.)
We named him HITCH. Hitch didn’t sing at all but he NEVER stopped talking (something he had in common with his namesake). I couldn’t make out too much of what he was saying except “Where ya going? I don’t know.” He said that OVER and OVER and OVER. I thought he was being philosophical. Do ANY of us REALLY know where we are going? It was cute for like 5 minutes.
He also was able to loosen the screws on his cage (even after my husband tightened them with a wrench)and, when left alone, would leave his cage and relocate to pretty much anywhere he wanted in our house. The kitchen seemed to be his favorite spot.
Since I have MS, I couldn’t tolerate his non-stop “ranting” (which was insanely shrill which I would have know had I done my homework before acquiring him)and we decided he had to go.
Now, my husband wants a Doberman. He wants to name him HITCH.
Hell, NO! Ain’t gonna happen.
Yeah, Dawk would be a much better name. Or Zeua and Apollo, if you buy two Dobies.
So funny…
The girlfriend (now wife) of one of my friends used to own a pair of cockatiels.
Until one of them killed the other one.
I had a cockatiel who was near mute and a great disappointment.
However he liked to hop into a full box of buttons and throw them out one by one until it was empty.
I never found out why.
I once shared an office with a doctor while doing some temp data entry work. She had an African Grey, two Border Collies and a Spaniel. She did trials with the two Collies. The African Grey learned all the verbal commands, and would instruct the dogs around the kitchen. Then toss them a tiny food pellet which all three dogs would dash for, and then look to the parrot for further instructions.
Great story!
Parrots aren’t for everyone, but for those who are willing to research their behavior and accept them as they are they can be profoundly eye-opening.
(That said, I’ve become convinced that most of the large parrots are so socially and mentally complex, they should not be in the pet trade at all. Budgies & Cockatiels, however, have been domesticated for quite a while and can be great companions.)
I’m impressed with the bird’s pitch; it stays nicely in tune with the piano. I’d be interested to know if the bird stays in pitch without the piano and whether it is perfect pitch or relative pitch. In other works, if the piano were playing in a different key, would the bird follow. If, as I’m guessing is the case, the bird starts out and the piano player follows, is it always the same key?
Great questions! Sounds as if there’s a trove of fascinating information yet to be gleaned from parrot behavior.