Mouthy Parrot

[TexasTamale]

True to life meaning of ol' saying "Speak No Evil"


CNN Tuesday, January 17, 2006; Posted: 7:46 a.m. EST (12:46 GMT)

LONDON, England -- A computer programmer found out his girlfriend was having an affair when his pet parrot kept repeating her lover's name, British media reported Tuesday.
The African grey parrot kept squawking "I love you, Gary" as his owner, Chris Taylor, sat with girlfriend Suzy Collins on the sofa of their shared flat in Leeds, northern England.
But when Taylor saw Collins's embarrassed reaction, he realized she had been having an affair -- meeting her lover in the flat whilst Ziggy looked on, the UK's Press Association reported.
Ziggy even mimicked Collins's voice each time she answered her telephone, calling out "Hiya Gary," according to newspaper reports.
Call-center worker Collins, 25, admitted the four-month affair with a colleague called Gary to her boyfriend and left the flat she had shared with Taylor, 30, for a year.
Taylor said he had also been forced to part with Ziggy after the bird continued to call out Gary's name and refused to stop squawking the phrases in his ex-girlfriend's voice, media reports said.
"I wasn't sorry to see the back of Suzy after what she did, but it really broke my heart to let Ziggy go," he said.
"I love him to bits and I really miss having him around, but it was torture hearing him repeat that name over and over again.
"I still can't believe he's gone. I know I'll get over Suzy, but I don't think I'll ever get over Ziggy."
Taylor acquired Ziggy as a chick eight years ago and named him after the David Bowie character Ziggy Stardust.
The bird has now found a new home through the offices of a local parrot dealer. Collins, who admitted the affair, said: "I'm not proud of what I did but I'm sure Chris would be the first to admit we were having problems."
She added to The Guardian newspaper: "I am surprised to hear he got rid of that bird.
"He spent more time talking to it than he did to me."

 

[texasgirl]

OMG, that is sad!!

 

[middie]

it's a shame he had to part with the bird

 

[Barbara L]

I feel sorry for the guy having to give up the bird. It has to be hard for the bird too, since the guy had raised him from a chick.

Barbara

 

[TexasTamale]

You'd think they would have AT LEAST put that Bird in the "Witness Protection Program" or SOMETHING!!!!!!

 

[buckytom]

he would have eventually stopped repeating those phrases if chris just taught him new ones. occasionally they would still pop out, especially if stimulated to do so with recordings, familiar sounds or pictures or something to remind them, but it's no big deal. birds only repeat things due to stimuli.
one of my birds still calls out occasionally to a long deceased cat, repeating "up, up, coo! come here, up, up" in my wife's voice when he sees a similar looking cat. it bothered her for a long time, but now it just brings back fond memories of the cat.

more recently, if something triggers him, my african grey imitates perfectly my (also passed ) mil's voice. it's really creepy, how accurate, so i try to ignore it, or start whistling to change his attention. if you pay attention to certain behaviours, good or bad, the bird will repeat those behaviours to get attention. they train you, more or less.

 

[Corinne]

Right, Bucky - they normally say what they say for the reaction. Taylor was probably reacting very emotionally to Ziggy's mention of the "other man", causing Ziggy to keep repeating himself.
Aren't Grey's the best? We have a few parrots & several Birman cats & I love them all dearly. All of them are our babies. The one I will NEVER give up is my Grey, Stevie.

 

[pdswife]

Hey bucky... have we ever seen any photos of your birds?

 

[buckytom]

no pdswife, i don't think i've posted any. ok, my mission for this weekend is to get some good pics of the gregarious feathered dinosaurs.

corinne, you're dead on about the bird's reaction. you can sit there all day repeating words that they ignore, but stub your toe while walking away and repeat "sh*t, sh*t", and guess what is the next thing out of their beak? then you laugh at them for it, and it becomes "sh*t, sh*t, heee hee".