Yesterday I shared a little about the Umbrella cockatoo and for today, another cockatoo, but this is the Moluccan cockatoo. One of the most amusing birds to me are those that are able to talk. But how exactly do owners teach the birds that have the ability to talk, to actually say some words?
Just look at this video of the Moluccan cockatoo trying to say he's a birdie.
This other one is even funnier, he was talking back and it's something I see they really like doing a lot.
When you start teaching your bird to talk, you want to use simple words that they can easily learn. Most birds learn from repeating a general sound many times during the day, usually when they are relaxed and focusing on you as their teacher. If you say something that has an emotional connection to either party, the bird will pick that up quicker than just simply saying a word.
Moluccans are already loud birds, so the challenge in learning how to speak is getting them to shape their noise into something that's easily recognized. Some owners could play sounds for the birds, more like recordings to imitate, but I'm not sure how well they work compared to just talking to them.
In training any animal to do something mostly unusual, patience plays a bigger role in the training than your technique does. These birds do not follow a time schedule and may ignore the new words for a while, then say the word back to you when you weren't trying to teach it to them.
Giving them small rewards, food to be precise, after they attempt to make a sound encourages the bird to keep trying. Some birds would prefer the social aspect of interacting with their owners than receiving food for success.
Moluccans are also very emotional birds, meaning that they depend on their teacher or companion to communicate with them. They will want to communicate with their owner if they create a solid bond with them, but their emotional level will also get frustrated and distracted quickly.
Some owners teach their birds to make sounds that have no actual word associated with them. Sounds like whistles, phone rings or laughter.
This is the Moluccan cockatoo laughing,
These types of sounds can occasionally come more naturally than actual words.
It usually takes a few months to a few years to teach a Moluccan to talk. Many times they will not develop the ability to speak, regardless of how much you try.