Green Group discussion

Bruce is a parrot with a broken beak. So he invented a tool to groom himself.

https://goodwordnews.com/bruce-is-a-p...

Well done Bruce!

I'm going to add this link to the New Zealand wildlife thread, but any other parrot stories are welcome, to keep Bruce company.

This is a research study on how parrots speak, with sounds and mimicking of human speech.

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-polly-c...

"Learning over time—The study concludes that age and sex are weak predictors of vocal mimicry. Age-based analyses showed that juveniles expanded their repertoires until they reached maturity, but after that repertoire sizes reached a plateau. Fifty-year-old birds did not have larger repertoires than 5-year-old birds.

Males versus females—Sex-based analyses showed that males and females of most species were equally good mimics. There are, however, some exceptions, including Budgerigars, in which males had larger vocal repertoires, Pacific Parrotlets, among which only males were reported to "talk," and Yellow-headed Amazons, among which females learned more sounds."

More information: A survey of vocal mimicry in companion parrots, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24335-x

Anyone who lives with a parrot is invited to join the community science team and contribute to this ongoing research by filling out the survey at this link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FA....

For reference, here are public links highlighting parrots known for their large repertoires: Alex, a Grey Parrot: https://alexfoundation.org/; and Sparkie Williams, a Budgerigar: https://blogs.bl.uk/sound-and-vision/...

Journal information: Scientific Reports

Wild baby parrots were also studied.

https://phys.org/news/2022-06-babblin...

"Human beings have known for thousands of years that parrots have extraordinary vocal abilities—not only do they communicate well, but they can imitate other species including humans. But in all that time, the babbling of baby parrots has gone unobserved. The researchers suggest that this is because they live inside holes in trees where no one but their parents and siblings can hear them.

The researchers discovered the babbling almost by accident. They were working as part of a team on a long-term field study involving parrots at the Masaguaral Biological Station in Venezuela. More than 10,000 green-rumped parrots there have been under study since 1988. As part of that effort, researchers have used PVC pipes to build nests for the tiny birds, and added tiny audio/video recording devices."

More information: Rory Eggleston et al, Vocal babbling in a wild parrot shows life history and endocrine affinities with human infants, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.0592

Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B

A friend told me her family's parrot mimicked the sound of the opening of the door to the cupboard where his food was kept, any time he wanted feeding.

Loro Parque on Tenerife holds the world's largest collection of parrots which it tries to breed to preserve rare species.

Spix's Macaw: The Race to Save the World's Rarest Bird