Teaching Older Birds to Talk… Is It Even Possible?

 

I have a 16 year old cockatiel, is too late to teach him how to talk?

- Pres

 

 

It’s never too late to teach any animal, anything. Even to speak!

 

Now, some prefer talking more than others. Some just need the right environment. For instance, my cockatoo Bandit is a naturally talkative bird. He talks all the time and is always learning new words. My other cockatoo, Bondi, is a great talker but only in certain environments – such as the shower or in the car. Some birds talk more when they’re alone, around other birds, hear the radio or TV?or whatever the situation is that sparks their speech training!

 

Cockatiels have adorable voices and like the other types of parrots, when their eyes pin they are giving you their full attention. This is when you want to say words and phrases you want your bird to pick up!

 

For example, the most exciting times we share with our birds… are when we are coming and going. This is why almost all birds learn how to say, “Hello” and “Goodbye”. They are excited (or alert) when you walk into the room and they are more likely to pick up the word you say at that time, which is usually “Hello” from most people.

 

Same thing when you’re leaving the room. So keep in mind, when your bird’s eyes pin, you want to say the words you want it to learn.

 

As another example, while living on the island of Saipan, I had to leave every night at 6pm to perform in the dinner show at the local hotel there. Every night when I came home, I would open the door and say, “Hey Cutie!” to my cockatoo. One day, a few weeks later or so, when I opened that door… before I had a chance to say anything my cockatoo exclaimed, “Hey Cutie!” to me! It’s now her favorite thing to say. So use these natural heightened senses to your advantage when teaching speech to your cockatiel (or any bird, for that matter).

 

The rest of teaching your bird to talk? Well, they learn best from other birds… so I recommend using our audio CD’s that play random words… randomly… (so you aren’t playing “hello hello hello hello” to your bird over and over and over making it hate its circumstances like anyone would end up doing in that situation!)

 

You can find the speech training course over at www.birdtricks.com/how-to-speak.htm

 

We use the voices of our birds -?plus many other species to give a variety to your own bird at home as?an array of pitches and tones for your bird to match.