Donna met an African Grey parrot

A chance visit to Bishan Park let me learn that the swing within that sculpture on Recycle Hill was always meant to be a swing but an unfortunate welding mistake ensured that kids will never have to fight over who gets that swing first.

The African Grey Parrot

And also we met an amazing parrot who said hello in many different ways, cackled and purred an amazing dial tone when I held up my handphone to take photos of it.

Poor Donna waited patiently as we stood and spoke with the older man and the parrot.

The parrot belonged to a retiree who was sitting by reading newspapers. He shared that he didn’t have to train the parrot. Simple install the parrot next to the television to activate self learning! He shared the parrot learned just from paying attention and listening to the television and people, etc. He could reproduce all sorts of sounds, including a dog barking, crows, birds, random murmuring that sounded human and of course an evil laugh.

“You see him in the park and you think he’s cute,” he groused, “Bring him home and you’ll find he’s not cute anymore!”

Apparently the parrot could have a temper and was pretty destructive at home. That and looking at how vocal he was, I would think twice about getting a parrot. :P

Einstein the African Grey Parrot

I actually don’t know much about parrots, but Kristy told me that it was an African Grey Parrot. I was intrigued and googled to find out more and that’s when I found this exceeding smart parrot and I think, an equally patient human who trained him very well indeed. You’ve got to watch this video if you haven’t before, it made me laugh. :D

A pet bird is as much commitment as a pet dog. I don’t think many people train parrots that much. I’ve certainly never heard of basic obedience courses for pet parrots. :P

Janicia from Mango the Sheltie tells me some birds get so loud, she could hear them from a block away.

Can some pet birds be noisier and louder than dogs? What do you think?