Are our birds smarter than we are?

[Cedardave]

We were just sitting here having a conversation about how our birds communicate with one another and things like that.We have one pair of greenwing macaws that say yes "yup"on mornings that breakfast has a little something extra special in it...that of course is communicated to the other macaws, which turns up the household volume as you can imagine.It occurred to us that they may in fact be a whole lot smarter than we are.We shop for their food after working for the money to buy it.We research and learn as many of their nutritional needs as we can find ,and fullfill them.We wash their dishes,bring them drinks and yes...Im gonna say it ...clean up after it all goes thru them and ends up on the bottom of the cage.I think the animal world may have tricked us...they are way smarter than us.

[spiritbird]

I totally agree. I posted an article not long ago how the Mom birds teach the chick fetus while still in the shell to recognize their call for feeding. This way the Mom bird does not end up feeding any intruders that may come to the nest. Just how much this teaching is carried on with the baby birds after birth I can only imagine. This is exactly why it is of value to leave the babies with the parents as long as possible and not "pull them" from the nest to interfere with this teaching by human feeding.
Take Boo and Pumpkin for example. They have learned so much from their parents and also from the human hands that have taught them hands are good things humans have. I also think our parrots have a huge curiosity about what is happening in their environment. If there is more than one bird to a cage this curiosity is very noticeable.

Very interesting subject.

[PlaxMacaws]

I'm still amazed on a daily basis by some of the behaviors that my guys demonstrate. Earlier this evening, in fact, I was laying back in a comfy chair by myself and Salsa was about 20 feet away perched at his favorite corner. He always watches me, and it was no different this time. I often talk to him from across the room and he speaks back to me. This time, though, I lifted my arm and simply gave Sals a finger wave without saying a thing (I've taught him how to do 3 different styles of waving - he usually says "hi" while he's waving to me). So Salsa watches me wave at him, moving my fingers up and down toward my palm... and what do you think he did? You guessed it! He lifted his foot and gave me the exact finger wave (toe wave?) right back. He's a real sweetheart :D. These guys are so alert and interactive that I have trouble believing it at times.

[Cedardave]

I think people have very much underestimated the intelligance of these creatures.Not a day goes by that one of our birds doesnt do something amazing.My last night storey is this.We have a room in the house where our baby birds are kept.One sun conure cluch hached in june and one at the end of september.....we cant seem to stop the parents from procreating.At any rate,the older ones are in a cage on a rack of cages below the younger ones.Last night my wife came in and asked why I had moved one of the older ones to the younger ones cage.Well it would seem that he was able to get past the clips that keep the doors secure...move up one cage and open those clips and was just hanging out with his jounger sibblings.When you consider what the thought pattern to achieving the end goal...particularly at such a young age...its mind boggling.

[spiritbird]

So Tony you taught your birds to give you the finger! Sorry I just had to write that. It really is amazing.

[PlaxMacaws]

I think people have very much underestimated the intelligance of these creatures.Not a day goes by that one of our birds doesnt do something amazing.My last night storey is this.We have a room in the house where our baby birds are kept.One sun conure cluch hached in june and one at the end of september.....we cant seem to stop the parents from procreating.At any rate,the older ones are in a cage on a rack of cages below the younger ones.Last night my wife came in and asked why I had moved one of the older ones to the younger ones cage.Well it would seem that he was able to get past the clips that keep the doors secure...move up one cage and open those clips and was just hanging out with his jounger sibblings.When you consider what the thought pattern to achieving the end goal...particularly at such a young age...its mind boggling.Amazing! That reminds me of another of Salsa's skills... on multiple occasions he has unscrewed wrench-tightened quicklinks and removed them from chains or other items, then re-closed and tightened them on his own. Here's a thread that I started when I first discovered he could do this: [Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]!&p=21260&viewfull=1#post21260

[Casper's 2nd best friend]

Photo from internet for comedy effect
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Q's a boy! ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]) by tuscaloosa_designs ([Users must be registered and logged in to view attached photos or hyperlinks]), on Flickr

[Mare]

We were just sitting here having a conversation about how our birds communicate with one another and things like that.We have one pair of greenwing macaws that say yes "yup"on mornings that breakfast has a little something extra special in it...that of course is communicated to the other macaws, which turns up the household volume as you can imagine.It occurred to us that they may in fact be a whole lot smarter than we are.We shop for their food after working for the money to buy it.We research and learn as many of their nutritional needs as we can find ,and fullfill them.We wash their dishes,bring them drinks and yes...Im gonna say it ...clean up after it all goes thru them and ends up on the bottom of the cage.I think the animal world may have tricked us...they are way smarter than us.

I have to agree..they are smarter than us. They also deserve better than us, sadly :(.