I’ve been doing a lot of research on parrotlets (Pacific parrotlets to be exact), and I really want to get one someday, I found out early on in my research that males are more proficient at talking than females, but why is that and would you still able to teach female parrotlets to talk? Would all parrotlets be able to talk with enough time and patience, or are some still not able to talk despite that?
Hi Claudia,
I think the comments you find about males talking better than females, is actually misinformation that originated with Cockatiel & Parakeet facts. With those species, the males are much more vocal and likely to talk, and they are also more social. With all other parrots, I have not found a significant or consistent difference between the talking ability of males and females. All parrots have the ability to talk. Some talk better than others, some species are known for being better talkers, yet even in those species, some never talk. The best method is no method. Don’t focus on teaching your bird to talk – talk to your bird. Use the same words a lot, and emphasize them, but don’t just repeat words. Say Good morning, are you hungry? do you want a treat? Did you miss me? Good night. Whatever is going on, talk to your bird about it. Birds vocalize to communicate. They learn to talk to us in order to try to communicate with us. Random words repeated do not have nearly the impact that simply talking to your bird will have. Communication is the groundwork for establishing a relationship with your pet bird. We just hosted a webinar on that topic. The more you talk to your bird, the closer he or she will be with you. And it’s important that talking isn’t your main reason for wanting a bird, because there is no guarantee that any bird will talk. They are individuals, and it all depends on the bird and its personality. I’ll post a link for that webinar, as I think you will find it to be very helpful.
Thank you for asking Lafeber,
Brenda
