If you have come here to teach your bird to jabber about constantly, and to speak a hundred words and phrases, you have come to the WRONG place... :-)

Teaching birds to mimic sounds is an act for the circus, so what we want instead is actual communication between your bird and you.

You may be thinking "Well, that is impossible" but I am being totally honest in saying it is not only possible, it is a proven fact. Birds CAN communicate with us, with words.

Let me give you an example..... We aquired a 5 year old Jenday Conure and after having her a few days, she was playing on the bed and I raised the sheet up so that she could not see me. Upon lowering the sheet, she gave me a big "Peek-A-Boo!". Her previous owner evidently taught her to play peek-a-boo.

All that in mind, if a bird knows what comes after dropping the sheet, why would a bird not know what comes before, say, a bowl of peaches?.......... How about " Rita want some peaches?"

Birds learn order through repetition, so if a bird observes an ordered set of events, then it will learn to predict the outcome. Why do you think the bird goes wild when it sees you breaking out the treat bowl? Every time it has seen you do that, it gets a treat.

In conclusion, if you stand in front of your bird cage or hold your bird and constantly say "Howdy!", the bird will eventually mimic that sound, simply because you say it all of the time. And when he starts saying it, he learns that every time it says it, you make a big fuss and laugh and everything just becomes more exciting

On the other hand, if every time you give your bird peaches, you walk up to the cage and say "Paulie want some peaches?", the bird puts the order together, and eventually, after seeing it a few times, will attempt to reproduce that order by repeating it. In the birds mind, remembering the order of events, it concludes that by making the sound " Paulie want some peaches?" that the peaches will come directly afterwards.

It is not even neccessary to try to only teach the bird one thing at a time. You can work on many things at once.

Here are a few examples:
• Birds Name want fresh water? Change the water.
• Birds Name wanna play? Take the bird out and play.
• Birds Name wanna go bye bye? Car Ride.
• Night Night Birds Name. Cover the cage at night.
• Good Morning, or Hello. Remove the cage cover in the morning.
• See ya later. Leaving the bird at home.

Just keep in mind that you must always be able to back up the phrase with the goods. If you start teaching your bird to ask for specific treats, and you do not always have them available, it can be difficult to enforce the training.