Reply #6: A question, please, bird fanciers? [View All]

[TygrBright]

I have been attracted to the idea of a bird pal but a little put off by the experience of a friend of ours whose wife keeps two, an African gray and a big green one, don't know the kind.

They SCREAM. A LOT.

They get tons of attention and social contact, they are incredibly spoiled, and ruggedly healthy. They're quite good with the kids, although will inadvertently scratch from time to time even though our friend clips their claws pretty regularly. They make a whole range of fun noises from the telephone to bits of dialog from "Casablanca." (The gray says "Here's looking at you, kid!")

But on a pretty frequent basis (although there doesn't seem to be a reliable pattern related times of day, what's going on around them, etc.,) they just SCREAM. One will start, the other will join in, and it's like they're having a shrieking contest. It's an appalling noise.

Do all birds do that? Are there just some kinds that do it? What kinds don't? Is there a way to prevent them doing it, or to make them stop?

Sometimes they start it in the middle of the night, and it wakes the whole household!

warily,
Bright