African Grey Parrots

The African Grey parrot is recgognized by many people as the best talker among the parrot family. The bird is very intelligent, has amazing cognitive ability and is able to learn a large vocabulory of words fairly quickly. Apart from talking the African Greys are also known for whisteling and their ability to mimic people and sounds. Most Greys will start talking at the age of one year, but some are late bloomers and may only start talking at two years of age.

As the name suggest the African Grey Parrot is from Africa and to be more precise Central Africa and grey in colour. There are two main sub-species of African Grey parrots, the Congo African Grey and the Timneh. The Congo African Grey or Psittacus erithacus, is the larger of the two species and approximately thirteen inches tall. The Congo African Grey has a black beak, light grey feathers and a red tail. The Timneh is approximately eleven inches tall, has a dark charcoal grey colour, with a maroon tail and a lighter beak. Some people recognises two more subspecies, namely the Ghana African Grey and the Cameroon Arican Grey, but these species are not widely accepted. The Cameroon Grey is also known as “the big silvers”. There are not a lot of difference between a male and a female parrot, but the males are slightly bigger with a thicker neck and wider head.

Similar to humans, each African Grey parrot has his own unique personality. African Greys are social, but cautious birds. They will not bond with you or strangers immediately, but once you have gained your parrot’s trust, he will reveal his true personality quickly. Because of their intelligence it is important to mentally stimulate your parrot and a few toys will help with the entertainment. An African Grey is also quick to pick up your feelings, so be careful when approaching him when you are in a bad mood.

A rather bad charesteristic of the African Grey parrot is the habit to pluck his feathers. When this happens, you need to determine the reason for the bad behaviour. One of the main reasons are boredom. Parrots are social animals and require a lot of attention from their owners. You may find that the plucking suddenly stops when you pay more attention to your parrot.

Another reason may be malnutition.When your parrot receives enought attention, pay particular attention to the diet, as malnutrition is one of the main causes of deaths in parrots. A frightened parrot and one that has been mistreated will also pluck his feathers. If you cannot find the reason for your parrot’s bad behaviour, seek the advice of a vetenarian. There may be an underlying problem that you cannot see.

African Greys are wonderful pets, but can live anything from forty to sixty years, so make sure you are willing for a long time commitment before adopting an African Grey.