What a mystery - how parrots can imitate human speech.  They don't even have lips.  They don't have a human larynx, pharynx, vocal cords, tongue or human teeth, either.  Their mimicry is based on an entirely different physiology.  But speak they indubitably do!

When I asked her, 'How does the doggy go?’ Artha, the eight-month old African grey would answer, ‘Woof, woof.’ By the age of 18 months she knew and used a respectable 150-word vocabulary with 40 additional sounds.  Was it mimicry when she heard the telephone ring and called out, ‘Hello, hello, hold on a sec?’  And she only spoke in Wal, my husband’s voice.  My telling a double glazing salesman on the phone that my husband was out (true) didn’t work when the salesman said huffily, ‘I can hear a male voice in the background.’

Artha appeared to associate certain words in the right context.  Out on a walk wearing her harness, she’d yell, ‘Come here, dogs,’ when one went nearly out of sight.  And many parrot households have the problem of answering their name shouted from another room. ‘No, I didn’t call; it was the (bleep) parrot.’

When Casper joined the household, Artha stopped speaking English except on rare occasions.  And Casper never has learned to speak with her facility.  Singing is his speciality.  He copies many wild birds’ songs because he is often in an aviary and from a DVD, he has learned ‘to sing nightingale.’  A marvellous treat.  My theory is that Artha used English to communicate with non-parrot speakers when she lived in a one-bird household.  Once she had an avian companion she didn’t need English so much.

And of course parrots do mimic.  Wal taught Casper to whistle da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, the first eight notes of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  It sounded cute at first.  But now half of the birds in the aviary have copied Casper.  Beethoven is driving me nuts.

Most parrot owners assert their birds DO understand what they are saying. Scientific proof of that has been given by Dr Irene Pepperberg, who worked with the world- renowned African Grey, Alex, for almost thirty years until his sudden death last year.

Pepperberg proved that Alex understood certain questions.  For example, shown two plastic keys of different sizes, one yellow, one green and asked ‘which bigger?’ he would answer correctly ‘Green’.  Dr. Pepperberg claims that Alex didn't just imitate human speech, as other parrots do - Alex could think.  His actions were not just an instinctive response, but rather the result of reasoning and choice.

Assertions like Dr. Pepperberg's are at the centre of a highly emotional debate about whether thought is solely practised by humans, or whether it can exist in other animals.  Scientists often ascribe what looks like clever behaviour to mimicry or rote learning or even, in some cases, unconscious cues by a trainer.

Aimée Morgan, a New York artist lives with N’kisi, another Grey; she would not agree.  N’kisi in 2004 had a vocabulary of over 900 words.  Morgan says he has a sense of humour as well.  He had been shown a photograph of famed chimpanzee scientist Jane Goodall.  When they met face to face, N’kisi asked, "Got a chimp?"  

Those of us who keep parrots don't need more scientific proof that our birds often understand what they are saying.  Claudia Hill’s Quaker parrot Tuck, says that he calls out "Am I OK?" when he's anxious or wants to know where everyone is.  ‘When one of us isn’t feeling well, though, he changes the call to, "Are you OK?"  He’ll keep this up until he’s assured that everyone is OK.  I’ve no idea how he learned this.’ She concludes, ‘this exchange may well indicate empathy on Tuck's part.’

Tuck will also occasionally say "out to feed?" when she walks past his cage on her way outside to feed the horses.  She responds, "yes, out to feed."  He says, "OK."  Claudia explains how she believes Tuck has picked up this expression. She works in the same room as the birds’ day cages are kept. ‘If I leave without telling all the birds they create an unholy racket wanting to know where I've gone.  To prevent this, I usually tell them where I'm going and how long I'll be gone, which seems to satisfy them.  Tuck doesn't use this phrase “Out to feed?” under any other conditions, so I must assume he is using it in context.’

Researchers working with African Grey parrots have suggested that they are capable of using words meaningfully in linguistic tasks; scientists are now beginning to recognize the intelligence of parrots. Pet parrot owners knew that already.