Why Do Parrots Communicate?

As you know, birds like to dance to music. Scientist have concluded that it's because how their brains are “wired.” “Scientists have discovered how parrots talk, as they believe it's down to the wiring in their brains. And the same brain region controls movement which may explain why some parrots "dance" to music.” (Agency, The Telegraph) Scientist think that finding this out about birds brains, they might have opened up more research to the human brain. “Scientists found key structural differences in the brains of parrots that may explain the birds' unparalleled ability to imitate sounds and human speech. The findings could lend insight into the neural mechanis 021ms of human speech too.” (Agency, The Telegraph)
Only 2 creatures on earth can speak human language, Humans and Birds. Parrots are the best. The article states “Parrots are vocal learners, meaning they grasp sounds by hearing and then imitating them. Although several other bird species can discern and repeat sounds, parrots are the pros.” (Ashley Taylor, Audubon) They have a VERY developed brain to be an animal. They are very
intelligent. There has even been neuroscientist’s studying the birds brain anatomy. “Erich Jarvis, a Duke University neuroscientist and vocal learning expert, recently published a study in Plos One explaining why. Any bird that’s a vocal learner has a part of the brain devoted to this, called the ‘song system.’ But in parrots, the song system has two layers—an inner ‘core,’ common to all avian vocal learners, and an outer ‘shell,’ which is unique to parrots. Jarvis thinks that this recently discovered ‘shell’ is what allows parrots to be such expert mimickers (though he hasn’t figured out exactly how it works yet).” (Ashley Taylor, Audubon) Birds don’t have vocal cords. They have an anatomy that lets them speak. Without vocal cords or a “flexible” mouth it makes it a struggle for birds to learn to speak. “Without a flexible mouth and vocal cords, learning how to speak human language can be challenging for our feathered friends. Parrots have a structure called a syrinx that is similar to the larynx at the top of the trachea in humans. The syrinx, located in the chest at the bottom of the trachea, can be used to speak human words. As the parrot attempts to use speech, the sound passes through the throat and mouth and is manipulated by the tongue.” (Brandy Burgess, The Nest)
Birds are much like humans, they can’t talk right off when they are first learning. Just like we can’t talk right after we are born. It takes them a lot less time to pick up the language than it takes for humans to pick it up. “Much like a human child, a pet bird will make unintelligible noises at the beginning of his training and develop words from there. It is important to know that the more language they are exposed to, the more language they will learn…” (Drs.Foster & Smith, Foster and Smith Educational Staff) Parrots are the best at mimicking others, sounds and language. “ African Greys are probably best known for their amazing ability to mimic not only the human voice but also an impressive array of environmental sounds…” (Drs.Foster & Smith, Foster and Smith Educational Staff) Birds have unique sounds. They don’t always talk in a language. They do communicate with each other in “sounds.” Birds are very weird, “The voice is often the most noticeable form of bird communication. Bird communication using sound includes singing, calls, squeaks, squawks, gurgles, warbles, trills, rattles, gulps, pops, whines, clicks, croaks, drums, whistles, howls, tremolos, thumps, honks and many other sorts of sounds.” (Filip Tkaczyk, Wilderness college) Parrots like communicating with each other but there isn’t always another one to communicate with.
If they are a pet they start to pick up on the language the owner speaks. They want/need attention so they start talking so the owner will understand them. Kinda like a baby. “Because parrots are social creatures, they need a form of communication to be able to interact. But what if there’s no parrot around to talk with? Should the house parrot languish away, waiting for another parrot to share its language? Parrots are fussy creatures, but they aren’t stupid. A parrot comes to understand pretty quickly that the humans around it are its social group — its flock, so to speak. Because the humans in the home aren’t equipped to learn the parrot’s language (nor do most of them want to), the parrot begins to learn the language of its area, of its clan.” (Gina Spadafori, Birds for
Dummies) Female birds have a different vocal range than a male bird. Females have a narrower vocal organ than a male. Males have a wider vocal organ. “The male lyrebird, with his wide-ranging syrinx (a bird's vocal organs), will sing a medley of mimicry to attract and impress a female; the more detailed and varying his repertoire is, the more interesting it seems to potential mates - although the clanging of a construction site may not be appealing to us, it's pabulum for the curiosity of a female lyrebird. Much like females of other bird species, they do not take part in the imitating, but simply judge the competing males' patchwork symphonies.” (Hannah Price, Australian Geographic) All birds are able to sing, not just parrots. Their vocals are very well ranged. “Songbirds learn their songs and perform them using a specialized voice box called a syrinx. Vocally, they’re in a league of their own. These adaptations have been remarkably successful—songbirds make up almost half of the world’s 10,000 bird species including warblers, thrushes, and sparrows. The vast majority of non-songbird species make simpler sounds that are instinctual rather than learned.” (Mya Thompson & Annalyse Moskeland,, Academy all about birds) Birds will pick up on the things people say. They might not understand it at first but then they will the more they learn how to pronounce it. They get familiar with what the human is saying and then understand when asked a question. Even to the point of a bird being “lost” and not being able to find its way home. This article confirms my point “A lost parakeet in Japan was returned safely to its owner last week after it told police its home address. Why do captive birds mimic human speech, and how do they decide what to say?” (Will Oremus, Slate) Some parrots speak better than others. A African Grey is going to be different from a Military MaCaw. “Parrots are not equally vocal, and many species likely imitate for different reasons. For example, African grey parrots in the wild are known to imitate other species of birds. My own observations of Amazon parrots from Mexico to Guiana to Peru revealed only imitations of each parrot's own species (and their own local dialects). When parrots are kept as pets, they learn their calls from their adoptive human social partners. Part of their appeal as pets is their ability to sing lower notes than smaller birds and so better reproduce human voices.” (The Sciences, Scientific American)