Parrots have their unique calls and as any parrot owner can attest you quickly learn which calls are associated with fear responses, well being, contact calls and so on. I didn’t know kakapo language when I was working with Sirocco and at first it was perplexing.
I finally heard the call so many describe as a “skraaak” on my second or third night working with Sirocco at Zealandia. The trainer in me wanted to know why did he do that? What does it mean? It happened after we had finished training, attended to his feeding station and were half way down the trail back to the house. My first thought was all our interactions had been really pleasant maybe it is a contact call and the skraak was his way of saying “come back”. Then it happened one night while we were heading back down the hill after Sirocco had displayed some aggressive behavior. That made me think maybe it was his way of saying “go away”. Finally longtime member of the kakapo recovery team Daryl Eason arrived to work with us. He is a walking encyclopedia on all things kakapo. We asked him what the call means and it soon became clear a ‘skraak” can mean different things under different circumstances.
Up to this point we had not observed Sirocco when he called. We only heard it. One night he skraaked during a training session! It was pretty fascinating to watch him do it. An innocent touch to his tail caused him to belt out a skraak. In this case he seemed mildly perturbed and perhaps a bit surprised by the tail touch. However he carried on with training right after the incident. Other times he skraaked when he was ready to exit the display area and another time he skraaked when he was perfectly calm and relaxed.
There was another vocalization we were lucky to experience almost every night. We were getting much better at reading Siroccos body language at this point and felt we had a good handle on what a “happy” kakapo looked like. Sirocco’s facial feathers would be nice and round, his body weight low on the perch and he would often start to get a half lidded sleepy look. This usually happened after he had consumed a few nuts and was starting to slow down in the training session. It was at this point he would start to “talk.” Sirocco didn’t talk the way we think of parrots talking, as in mimicking human sounds. Instead he would make this gentle, breathy chortling sound. He seemed to be more inclined to make the sound if people spoke gently to him or mimicked his sounds. To me it sounded similar to the noises an African grey parrot might make when feeling a bit “in the mood.” But Sirocco's gentle sounds were never followed by anything sexual. I would get to see what sexual behavior looked like on another night. More on that in the next blog.
Barbara Heidenreich
Good Bird Inc
Copyright Good Bird Inc 2011
Barbara, sometimes my tiny Parrotlet will raise his wings when he's talking human. It almost makes me think it's punctuation, or a particular effort to do that certain vocalization.
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet and mind boggling little guy!!!
Thanks for this. We were lucky enough to see a kakapo in NZ several years ago. This one is so gorgeous and it's great to see him move around, "talk" and learn.
ReplyDeleteI find that little Kakapo fascinating. Are they a Parrot? This little Sirocco is totally amazing. That little sound he makes reminds me of my Jenday Conure, Rikki Woo. Rikki will make screk sound and he will also say Bah....and jump up and down on his perch. I look forward to reading more on Sirocco The Kakapo soon.
ReplyDeleteWow that is so fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I love to learn anything I can about this enigmatic bird.
ReplyDeleteIn watching the video, I wonder if he's responding to the 'mumbling' sound going on in the background. Being that it's a continuous sound, and it happens when the trainers come in his space, so he's responding to it? Especially since he's now relaxing with the trainers around. He sure is facinating!
ReplyDeleteHi Paula,
ReplyDeleteI didnt put a clip of it in here, but we found certain sounds we made could get him going.But he also definitely needed to be in this super relaxed state. This was just the first time he had presented with the three of us so we were all fascinated! Hence all our comments : )
Have you tried music while training? Have a crimson-winged parrot who breaks into R2D2 sounds[of Star Wars fame] with background jazz/classical.
ReplyDeleteHi L,
ReplyDeleteYes i have. I have an amazon in my home who responds best in terms of his vocal behavior when there is ambient noise : )
I love your footage. Kakapos fascinate me. Sirocco sounds just like a chicken when they are contented and bedding down for the night. It also reminds me of a happy chortling parakeet.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info!
The "talking" is very similar to the cockatoos I know, when they're feeling mellow and friendly. Since cockatoos are probably more closely related to kakapos than are African grays, I'd say that the cockatoo paradigm is more likely. The wing raise is also similar to cockatoo behavior when simply making a bit of friendly "conversation".
ReplyDelete