09/04/2026
THE PARROTS WILL TELL ON YOU!
Last night, while we were cleaning the cockatoo room, I stepped out to get a clean bucket of soapy water.
A few seconds later, I heard the cockatoos go into alert calling.
Not their normal background chatter.
An ALERT.
I immediately headed back, thinking our part-time staff member might have come into the room.
She was actually still in the vestibule. She realized I was concerned and came in to help.
And there he was. Lizzo, our Umbrella Cockatoo, was out of his cage and sitting on top of Sugar Tea's cage. Sugar Tea is a Bare-eyed Cockatoo and not having it.
And suddenly, that alert call made perfect sense.
The cockatoos had already told us something was wrong.
This is one of the reasons I get a little frustrated when parrot vocalizations are reduced to “they're just loud.”
They're not just being loud. Parrots communicate. They have contact calls. They have alarm calls. They have attention-seeking vocalizations. They have social calls. You get it.
They have vocalizations associated with excitement, frustration, fear, anticipation, and changes in their environment.
They are the world's most effective alarm system.
Bird out of place?
They'll tell you.
Something unfamiliar in the room?
They'll tell you.
A strange person?
Yep. Stranger Danger Alert.
Something moving where it shouldn't be?
You guessed it.
Last night, the cockatoos told on Lizzo.
And THANK GOODNESS they did.
Because when a parrot is loose in a room full of other parrots, especially when you're dealing with cages, territorial boundaries, and birds that may not appreciate an unexpected visitor on their roof, time matters.
We often talk about learning to read a parrot's body language.
We should also learn to listen to them.
Their vocalizations are information.
And if we learn what they're saying, they can tell us a lot about what is happening in their world.
Sometimes, they may even save us from finding out the hard way.
pictured is our db reader showing the cockatoo night chatter after the "Lizzo incident". Oh, Lizzo.
