Bird Resources

Species

African Grey parrot

African Grey Parrot

The African grey parrot's ability to talk and mimic sounds makes this medium-sized parrot a captivating companion. African grey owners often report that their greys oftentimes talk in context and seem very attuned to their people's emotions. The African grey ...

Latest Articles

webinar 53 slide promotes Lisa Bono discussing bird sitting, boarding, and travel

Webinar: The Grey Way: Time to Travel: Bird Sitter, Boarding or Hitting the Road? with Lisa Bono, CPBC

Join us for a free webinar on August 13 with Lisa Bono, a certified parrot behavior consultant specializing in African grey parrots, as she presents Episode 4 of The Grey Way, a Lafeber Pet Birds Webinar Series focusing on Congo ...
webinar 41 slide promotes Dr. Scott Echols discussing grey parrot anatomy project

Webinar: Grey Parrot Anatomy Project: An Update & Relevance to all Parrot Species

Dr. Echols will give us an update on the Grey Parrot Anatomy Project, which aims to create an accurate physical and digital anatomy reference of the African grey parrot ...
African grey parrot face

Webinar: “The Grey Way: Understanding The African Grey Parrot”

Join us this Friday for a free, interactive webinar. Our guest, Lisa Bono, CPBC, owner and operator of The Platinum Parrot and an associate-certified parrot behavior consultant specializing in African grey parrots, will present "The Grey Way: Understanding the African ...
african grey training

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: African Grey Parrots Show Self-Control

Grey parrots may sometimes be impulsive—think about how often you may have had to give your bird multiple timeouts for the same behavior (like chewing on your sunglasses) in a very short time period. However, my students and I have ...
African greys on beach set

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Fun Fundraising Featuring The Parrots

Devising new ways to test parrots' cognitive skills is the exciting part of Dr. Irene Pepperberg and her staff's work. The challenging part is finding the exact words to sum up a study — and the even more challenging part ...
African grey parrot given choice of cups with rewards

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Understand “Process of Elimination?”

Process of elimination and inference are two powers of reasoning, and Dr. Pepperberg conducted fascinating tests to determine the existence of inference in African greys ...
Dr Pepperberg and African grey parrot

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Engage In Cooperative Behavior?

Will African grey parrots share food or ask humans for help? The latest experiments at Dr. Pepperberg's lab give some interesting answers! ...
African grey parrot on a perch

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Do Parrots Understand Probability?

To test a parrot's ability to understand probability, Dr. Irene Pepperberg's cognitive behavior research lab recently presented African grey parrot Griffin with a task similar to what a 6-8 year-old child might be tasked to do — using three of ...
African grey, grey parrot, African grey parrot

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Research Lab: “What’s Mine is Mine and What’s Yours is Mine”

“What’s mine is mine and what’s your is mine.” Does this sum up your feathered friend's antics? Dr. Irene Pepperberg explains not only how this parrot quirk is based on natural behavior, but she also shares how we can use ...
African grey, African grey parrot, grey parrot

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: African Grey Griffin Speaks His Mind

As companion animals, parrots are unique in that they can use human language to verbally communicate with us. Dr. Irene Pepperberg knows first-hand the advantages of working with such communicative subjects. African grey Griffin, for example, can verbalize requests to ...
african grey parrot

Inside Dr. Pepperberg’s Lab: Prepping For A Film Crew Visit

Inviting a film crew into a research lab devoted to the study of cognitive behavior in parrots involves not only prepping the lab, but the parrots and the filmmakers. Dr. Irene Pepperberg shares her account of having a film crew ...
African grey parrot being shown red triangle block

How Dr. Pepperberg Chooses What Topics To Study

The inspirations for topics of Dr. Pepperberg's African grey studies come from many different sources, and all add up to fascinating information being revealed ...
African grey parrot Athena drinking grape juice from tiny cup

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Parrots’ Cognitive Abilities Put To The Liquid Test

After a certain age, children are able to understand conservation of amounts. Can birds also understand that a change in shape might not change the amount? ...
African grey parrot being shown red triangle block

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: African Grey Athena’s Antics

Our youngest bird, Athena, can present some interesting challenges to our research. We sometimes joke that she doesn’t have an “off switch.” ...
African grey parrot Athena drinking grape juice from tiny cup

Inside Pepperberg’s Lab: Catering to Parrots’ Tastes

Dr. Pepperberg reveals some unconventional, and unsung, activities needed to get data from the African grey parrots in her lab ...
African grey parrot being shown red triangle block

Pepperberg’s Parrots Surprise With Word Choices

The talkative African grey parrots Dr. Pepperberg works with in her research lab communicate in English, and sometimes they surprise lab staff. See why! ...
Dr Pepperberg nose to beak with African grey named Griffin

Parrots Find Creative Ways To Delay Bedtime

With cognitive abilities matching that of a 5-6 year old, African grey parrots can likewise come up with some creative distractions to delay bedtime. This month, Dr. Pepperberg gives us a look back at the bedtime antics of Alex the ...
African grey parrot on a perch

Parrots Can Play Mind Games

Research with parrots leads to some unexpected results. Some pleasant, like learning words that weren't trained, and some unpleasant, like acting out ...
African Grey Parrot on a perch looks at two differenty sized and colored plastic cups

Day in the Life of Pepperberg’s Parrots

Curious to know what an average day is like in Dr. Irene Pepperberg's research lab on the Harvard campus? Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at a day in the life of African greys Griffin and Athena! ...
African grey parrot on perch leaning forward

A Microchip Can Bring Your Lost Bird Home

The story of Nigel, the African grey parrot that returned home speaking Spanish, is a good example of how a microchip can facilitate a happy reunion for lost pet ...
head profile shot of African grey parrot for Grey Parrot Anatomy Project

The Grey Parrot Anatomy Project

The Grey Parrot Anatomy Project aims to create an accurate physical and digital anatomy reference, including a standardized basis for avian anatomy nomenclature, of the African grey parrot (Psittacus erithacus erithacus) ...
Hyacinth macaw

New World Parrots: Conures, Amazons, Macaws & More

Parrots can be categorized according to Old World psittacines and New World psittacines. Do you know if your parrots are "Team Old World" or "Team New World"? ...
African grey parrot

New Pepperberg Research: Can Parrots Share?

Sharing seems to be less common in our nonhuman primate relatives, and appears to occur only under some fairly specific conditions. But what about creatures that are not primates? Our recent studies suggest that African grey parrots also can engage ...
Presidents & Their Pet Parrots

Presidents & Their Pet Parrots

Can you imagine a parrot perched in the White House? It’s probably happened at some point during our country’s history; after all, some of our past presidents had parrot companions during their presidencies. Here is a list of presidents who ...
Dr. Pepperburg

Life After Alex

Five years after Alex’s passing, he is still sorely missed; by me and, I believe, by Griffin and Arthur, the other African grey parrots in my lab. Days still exist, particularly when I return after a long absence, during which ...

Ask Lafeber

Sudden death of 18 year old African Grey Parrot

What kind of suddenly killed my male African gray he seem fine I woke up uncover him and he was laying in the bottom of his cage his eyes were open and his neck looked twisted around I think the ...

Testing after medication

If there’s time.. I have a 17 yo timneh on numerous heart meds. Almost 2 years now. Is there any way to tell if he still needs them - could he have improved. His diet has improved and he gets ...

Grey head shake

why do african greys shake their heads. Mine only does it once in a while ...

Beak health

what would you recommed for overall beak health and strength in mid size birds such as greys or mini macaws during the younger years as far as diet or physical item in cage? ...

Sexing parrots

"I have an African Grey who is 5 years old the breeder told me she's a female she never produced eggs. how would I know if my birds female or male. ?" ...

My african gray is not doing well

Last night with the fireworks, he got scared, this morning he is not moving, help pl ...

African grey laying eggs

I have two of course African grey . She just laid a egg im shock. That have been together for 7 years. She broke the first egg. What do I do, how to help? Plus does she need special food ...

Preventing breeding

Can African Grey's be neutralized to prevent unwished breeding between siblings) ...

Poop

My African grey eats mixed vegetables 2 times a day, some rice, calcium nutri berries and African grey pretty bird. Also just about what the family eats too. Sometimes the poop is brown and runny why can I give my ...

Ask the Vet webinar – Grey feather destructive behavior

"This is Pat and I first want to thank you and tell everyone involved in putting this program on, how much it is loved and appreciated. I have 2 female Timneh African Grays, one about 8 and the other about ...
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