THOR BABBLE

By Dana Parrott

Question: “Does your bird talk?”

Answer: “Sometimes he won’t shut up.”

Before we got our Cape parrot, Thor, we sought out anyone and everyone who might have the answer to the question, “Are Capes good talkers?” The answers ranged from, “They talk about as much as African Grays,” to, “All indications suggest that they should be,” to, “Capes are not big talkers,” to, “No one really knows, because there just aren’t that many that are kept as pets.” Even the breeders and experts were equivocal in their responses. Well, we can put the question to rest here and now – Capes, at least the one we live with, love to hear themselves talk.

We’d had Thor only a few months when he uttered his first words, “Hi, Baby.” Every time I walked by his cage, I would say to him, “Hi, Baby,” and he picked it up. At the time, I was really impressed with how easily he picked it up and how clearly he spoke. Little did I know what was in store in the months to come. We’ve had Thor about a year and a half now, and he speaks too many words to count, all of them very clear and easy to understand.

Thor is most vocal in the morning. He’ll spend up to an hour and a half babbling, saying all the words he knows. He often starts with, “Good morning.” After our trip to the Tower of London to visit our Thor’s namesake, Thor the raven, who said, “Good morning” to us, (read about it here) we just had to teach our Thor to say it. It took a couple of weeks, and then one morning we were rewarded. Now he says it almost every morning. For a while, when Thor’s cage was in the bedroom, as soon as Thor was aware that we were awake, he would pounce off his perch and greet us with a “Good morning!” Now he says, “Good morning, Thor,” almost every day. Interestingly, he only says it in the morning, never at other times of the day. After “Good morning,” Thor usually launches into his morning riff, saying all the words and phrases he knows.

Thor has learned most of what he says from Craig’s mom, Thor’s “grandma”. About 90 percent of what Thor says he’s gotten from Grandma, about ten percent from me and Craig. Why he listens better to Grandma than Mommy or Daddy is a mystery. In fact, one of his favorite words to say is “Grandma.” Maybe it’s because Grandma dotes on her grandbird, as some of Thor’s babble gives away. It’s funny when you remember that birds just imitate what they’ve heard. On a daily basis, we hear Thor dote on himself:

“Thor’s a good little bird.”

“Precious baby.”

“Hi, sweet bird.”

“Such a silly little bird.”

“Hi, sweetheart.”

“You be good boy.”

“Grandma’s sweetheart.”

“He’s a good little bird, yes.”

“Grandma’s big boy.” (One of Thor’s favorite things to say.)

“Thor’s a good bird.”

“Thor’s a good boy.”

“Thor’s a good baby.”

“I love you.”

“Grandma loves Thor.” (Another favorite thing to say.)

“How’s the baby?”

“How’s Thor?”

“Grandma.”

“Hi, precious bird.”

“Grandma’s precious boy.”

“You be good baby.”

“You be good bird.”

“Thor be good baby.”

“It’s okay. Grandma’s here.”

“Grandma’s baby.”

“Grandma love good baby.”

“Precious Thor.”

“He’s a good baby.”

“Hi, sweet Thor.

“Thor be big boy.”

“You good baby?”

“Thor’s a precious bird.”

“Hi, Thor baby.”

“Grandma love you.”

“Hi, sweetie.”

“You big boy.”

“Thor’s the baby.”

“Hi, Thor baby.”

Of course, the doting from Grandma has to be balanced with some discipline. We also on a daily basis hear Thor scold himself:

“Bad bird.”

“You behave yourself.”

“Stay.”

“Step up. Step up. STEP UP.”

“No. No, no, no, no, no.”

“You be bad bird.”

“Bad.”

“Thor, you behave yourself.”

“You be naughty.”

“You be bad bird.”
“No to Grandma.”

“Bad boy. Bad.”

“No bite the grandma.”

Grandma has also taught Thor to whistle “Jingle Bells”, which was really cute last Christmas but was a little old by July. This year, she’s taught him to whistle “Silent Night”. We’re working on “Happy Birthday”, but haven’t gotten that yet.

Unlike “Good morning,” which Thor only says in the morning, there are other words and phrases that he says at the wrong time, such as “Night night,” which he says any time of day. He also sometimes mixes up his phrases and says things like, “Grandma’s big good morning, “You be good bad boy,” “Grandma love the big grandma,” or, “You be bad grandma,” which we’re sure he doesn’t mean.

One of the funniest things Thor does is imitate us making bird noises. He makes the tooting sounds that any bird makes, and he imitates the microwave beeps. When we’ve noticed him doing this, we’ve answered him in English, saying, “Toot, toot” or “Beep beep.” Now, Thor says, “Toot, toot”, “Tootie” and “Beep beep” in English.

We’ve discovered that we have to be careful what we say around Thor, because he picks things up so easily. One day, Craig and I were going out for the day, and Grandma was babysitting. When we got home that evening, we asked how things went.

“Oh, we had a fine time,” said Grandma. “I put him on the window sill while I did the dishes, and we took a shower together, we had dinner together, and then Thor stood on my knee while we watched TV together. We had a fine day.”

Well, all the next week, all Thor could say was, “No! Bad boy!”

Grandma was busted.

As easily as Thor picks up words and phrases, there are things that we’ve tried to teach him that he absolutely will not say. I’ve been working on “Daddy” since we’ve had him. He said it once and only once, and it was never heard again. Same with “Mommy,” “Thank you,” and “Scratch the baby.” Other words, like, “Ow!” and “Yummy” he only had to hear once before he started using them.

Some of Thor’s babble tells a story, and as you’re listening to him, you can picture the whole scenario taking place. One of my favorites is when Thor makes the sound of the phone ringing, and then he answers it.

“(Riiiiiing). Hello? Hi.” Then Thor babbles incoherently for a few seconds, before saying, “Okay. Bye.”

Thor relives other scenes from his life. “Okay, Thor, Grandma go bye-bye. Step up. You be good bird. Go bye-bye.”

Another scenario, which is still funny, but we shouldn’t laugh, is:

“Ow! No bite the Grandma. Bad bird. Step up. Stay. You behave yourself.”

Thor is also an expert at imitating three different phones ringing, including a very intricate cell phone tune. He makes the sound of a squeaky door opening when we open any door, whether it is the squeaky door or not. He also imitates Grandma’s and Daddy’s laugh. He coughs and barks. He says, “Whoopee!” “Weeeee!” “Yipeee!” He also makes a “blurp” sound like a computer.

We are definitely in agreement with those who say birds can communicate. Thor uses incorrect words for the context, of course, like saying, “Night night” in the morning, but he uses the correct words for the context often enough that we don’t believe it could be coincidence. Thor often says, “Yummy yummy,” when he wants a treat, after sticking his head in his bowl of pellets, screaming, then tossing the pellets. When Craig walks into the room with apple juice, Thor gets very excited, and when Craig asks, “Thor, what’s this?” Thor sometimes answers, “Yummy yummy.” The other day I was in the kitchen preparing fruit, and when Thor saw what I had, he immediately dropped his toy and said, “Yummy.” I handed him a noodle last weekend, and before he took it, he said, “Yummy.” Thor also knows when he’s in trouble, and says, “STEP UP” to himself. Or, if you’re putting him on a perch and forget to say, “Step up,” he’ll remind you. I was playing with Thor one day, trying to sneak up on him, and he turned around and asked me, “Whatcha doin’?” Thor also tries to get himself out of doing things he doesn’t want to do, like step-up practice, or get himself out of hot water when he knows he’s in trouble, by suckering us with a “Hi, Baby.”

Some of the times when he seems to be communicating with English are very funny. Last weekend, Thor wanted some of Daddy’s shiny things that were on the bedside table. “No,” I said. Thor stopped and looked at me, then tried for the shiny things again. “No!” I said. Thor stopped, looked me in the eye, and said, “What?” “You can’t have Daddy’s things, that’s what.” With that, he went and found a bird toy to play with.

Last summer, Thor was on his boing when Craig and I were trying to talk. Thor was being very, very noisy, and Craig and I both shot him the evil-eye look. He stopped, looked at us, and said, “What?” Of course we busted up laughing, and “what” became the word of choice for a while.

Thor likes to fly, but he is not very good at landing. Every evening he just HAS to be on Daddy’s shoulder, so he’ll toot, aim, and fly across the room, splatting on Daddy’s chest. “Oh, baby” is his usual response to his crash landing.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into the talking abilities of our baby. Thor talks way more than we ever expected he would, and we’re sure there will be much more to come in the future.