Willie the parrot awarded for repeatedly yelling 'Mama, baby' after toddler started to choke

This undated image from video released by CBS4Denver, shows Megan Howard, holding Willie, a Quaker parrot in Denver, Colo. , whose cries of alarm alerted her when a little girl she was baby-sitting choked on her breakfast. Willie has been has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award.


This undated image from video released by CBS4Denver, shows Willie, a Quaker parrot in Denver, Colo. , whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast. Willie has been has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award.


This undated image from video released by CBS4Denver, shows Willie, a Quaker parrot in Denver, Colo. , whose cries of alarm alerted his owner when a little girl choked on her breakfast. Willie has been has been given the local Red Cross chapter's Animal Lifesaver Award.

until the little girl was choking. Now who thinks parrots just mimic?

:shrug:

:rofl:

:rofl: :applause:

I'll be here all week! :hi:

It will be great to have you here! I needed that! :hi:

:rofl:

:rofl:

:spray:

"There are two ways to live your life - one is as though nothing is a miracle, the other is as though everything is a miracle." -- Albert Einstein

:hi:

Thanks for sharing that.

:hi:

the Nanday is starting to say thank you (where we can understand it), in context

Aka when I give him clean water or food

And yes, I am a well trained human, I even do tricks.. fetch their food and water

well, increasing number of scientists who believe that they do have cognition. :shrug:

Parrots are freaky. Is it ethical to own one, these days?

just screeches when you aren't paying attention to her, or chirps happily when you are. She'd probably just watch me or a family member collapse on the floor, in the same situation, and chirp happily, because at least you're in the same room with her.

"KCCCH-KCCCH-KCCCH-KCCCH-KCCCH," they'd say, as they do when anything unusual or funny (to a bird, that is) happens. Perhaps Frankie would scold me with an "AKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKKAKK" if I lifelessly laid there long enough; she has a short temper when something in her world is not to her liking and I am not attempting to fix it.

Sam doesn't ever bother trying to talk. He's not that bright. Frankie tries, God bless her, but she's not very good at it. She'll sit there, repeatedly chattering in human-like vowels and consonants, but it's like she can never keep more than one sound in her head at once.

They just about all come from breeders, hand-fed by humans as babies.

Okay--I wouldn't want to be any part of despoiling the Amazon, etc.

like African greys, cockatoos, all sorts of macaws, etc. Not that they'd sell you a wild-caught bird, of course: those would probably tear your finger off. They use 'em for breeding, and it's usually impossible to tell how far back your bird's parentage was brought into captivity.

Any parrot you buy has been hand-fed and raised in captivity from hatching. Well, any parrot but budgies/parakeets from a big-box store, but those are easy to train. I don't think it's unethical to keep parrots as pets, so long as you pay lots of attention to them, give them toys, and keep their environment nice. Still, for many people, larger parrots represent an investment in time they weren't aware they'd have to make; birds with half-hearted owners are going to be miserable.

I've always thought they were incredibly cool. When the cat dies, maybe.

We've always wanted an African Grey, but it would almost certainly
long outlive us so that didn't seem very fair to the parrot (or our
kids).

Instead, we adopted a Sun Conure, and she'll probably live about as
long as we do. She's not nearly the brightest of the parrots (unlike
a Grey), but she's a sweet bird and we let her have the run (the fly?)
of the place. Yes, she's potty trained; the place "to go" is just outside
her cage (which is almost never closed).

And yes, if something is wrong, she gets very upset. She also yells
her head off if she sees someone strange coming to our door, but
if, say, Mr. Tesha comes to the door and I'm home, she'll announce
his arrival: "Da-deee! Da-deee!"

So if you can make a long-term commitment, a parrot will make
a very good companion. But the parrot will expect a big share of
your time, so be sure to look at it as a commitment.

Tesha

a cockatiel and a cockatoo may be distantly related, but the cockaltiel and the Conures are not

Also it is like having kids... that will never grow up

We also have a Sun our senior citizen is a Tiel and the nanday

And they are long term. We didn't get the military mackaw that was making points to come home due to that lenght of life issue... and when the tiel passes (he's twenty +) we ain't getting more

If you're willing and able to take care of a parrot properly, I don't see anything unethical in owning one, but for the biger breeds most people probably aren't - I suspect it takes a lot of time and effort, and a lot of space to fly in, to keep one happy.

And if you are their flock, they'll want to spend a lot of parrot quality
time with you. Cuddling, playing, talking (even if it's just parrot speech),
etc.

Parrots can also be "high-grade chewers". I now own a lot of "lacy"
clothing that didn't start that way, but as our parrot cuddles and
snuggles in to my clothing, she also likes to chew.

They do need to see the avian vet from time to time, of course, both
for routine (yearly) well-bird examinations and for the occasional
beak and nail trim.

Tesha

I generally oppose the keeping of non-domesticated animals in captivity, but I guess I have to be open to the idea that some level of symbiosis is possible and mutually beneficial.

But the bird did good work.

Heh. I can tell you, from having raised the little devils...er, darlings, for years, that you must have a large tolerance for noise to own one. Quakers, also known as Monk parakeets, are incredibly smart. My mothers' bird makes up sentences and appropriate commentary for whatever is going on. Raised in groups, they tend to talk to each other in 'bird', but single ones in good homes learn Human easily.

I live on the CT shoreline (walking distance, not actually on it) and we have flocks of wild ones. The evil utility companies destroy their nests and kill them periodically so I'm always thrilled when I see them flying thru my yard.

They do not belong there. Some idiot probably released theirs when they got tired of them (or they escaped). They cause blackouts and that is why the "evil" utility companies destroy their nests. Someone on oxygen depends on electricity to stay on. If it goes out they could die.

In my opinion, any exotic species (cats, pigs, birds) should be eliminated to the extent possible but definitely not allowed to breed.

There are colonies of wild Quakers scattered throughout the US (from released and escaped pets), and they've managed to adapt quite well.

They're also considered a bit of a pest/nuisance because of the huge community nests they build on top of telephone poles, wires, overhangs, etc.

Check out the nest this solitary Quaker constructed (somewhat boring at first, wait until 4:00 to see the size of this thing)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gNk0yTZZHI&feature=related

I love seeing birds talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVVzUxXxQZU&NR=1

something I would like to post but have never figured out how to do this?

That's very significant. The bird knew the baby was in trouble, and knew MAMA was the person to address it.

That's news I can use!

We love Harley, our African Grey, to pieces! He's so smart, I've even been able to teach him "colors" using his toys. He has a large vocabulary & sometimes seems to know the correct response or greeting...he imitates voices, TV theme songs (loves "Andy Griffith" & the "Simpsons") whistles "Dixie" & Christmas Carols, calls the dog and drives me nutz when he imitates the stove timer or the microwave beep.

Our son will adopt him after we go to our hopefully-non-political-heavenly-reward:) We rescued Harley originally, and never expected to love & enjoy him as much as we do - he's a family member! Thanks again for the post.

Harley sounds wonderful. I am glad you enjoyed the post.

:hi: