There are two types of African Grey Parrots – the Congo (CAG) and the Timneh (TAG). One difference in these birds is in appearance as the CAG has a black beak and a bright red tail and the TAG has a bone-coloured beak and a very dark maroon tail. The CAG is also slightly larger than the TAG. Both species come in varying shades of grey as their name implies. A Timneh may be more outgoing than a Congo, although there are some Congos who don’t seem to know about this.
African Grey Parrots are very intelligent birds as shown by the studies done by Dr. Irene Pepperberg at The Alex Foundation.
Not all African Grey Parrots will talk – but most will. Their first words are often mumbled at only a few months of age and many will begin talking clearly at about one year old. Not only do they speak clearly, but also they use the same tone of voice as the person who has said that word or phrase to them. Once they start talking, they pick up almost everything (if they want to) and some of the things they may say are things that they heard many months ago and remembered.
One of the first things that my CAG, Jewel said was “tickle toes” and I had never said that to her. Upon checking with her breeder, I found out that he and his wife had said it often as they played with her feet so she wouldn’t be nervous about having her nails done. She hadn’t heard it since coming to my home, but 4 months later, she said it while I was trimming her toenails.
African Greys are generally not noisy birds, although some of them can and do have some annoying or shrill noises that they make. They may hear your smoke alarm go off once & decide that is a fun noise to make – only they may add a bit more volume to it. A door that was squeaking for a few days before you got the oil can out may be repeated again & again by your bird – again with a little more volume added.
African Greys are one of the dustier birds you can keep. They don’t have as much dust as a Moluccan Cockatoo, but lots more dust than an Amazon does. A good air cleaner is recommended to keep some of this dust out of the air and giving your bird frequent showers also helps. If you have ever seen your Grey shake & puff himself up while sitting in the sunlight, you know what I mean about the dust.
