Gabby, The Smartest Quaker Parrot in the World!

by Joan Quinn
(Port St. Lucie, FL)

I have a Quaker Parrot, named Gabby. It is a boy, but I thought he was a girl. In this picture, he is taking a bath in a bowl of water with the others looking on. I got him at 5 weeks old and finished out the hand feeding. I have 18 birds, all of whom I love, but Gabby is my heart!

When I first saw him he was in the brooder box with his siblings around 3.5 weeks old. When the owner opened the lid and laughed, so did a couple of the baby Quakers. It was totally amazing.

At the age of 2 months old, Gabby already had the beginning of a good vocabulary. By the time he was 4 months old, he said, "Mommy loves her baby!" I almost fell off of my seat when I heard him say this. He is 2 years old now and talks back and forth with me and even verbally interacts with the other birds. He tells the Lovebirds to "stop it" when they get in a little tiff. He tells my female Quaker (when she is eating at her dish) "taste good?" Every time I sneeze he says really loud, 'bless you, God bless you!" He has a very large vocabulary and is learning even more phrases each day.

He shakes hands, turns around and goes poopy on command. He kisses me and says "I love you, I love you, I love you!" Gimme a kiss!" In the evening when I ask him what time is it....he says, every so eagerly, "Night-Night!" Then he is oh so proud of himself. If I pull the blinds closed in the heat of the afternoon, he says "night-night". Then I tell him "No night-night" and he says, "wake up?"

If I put a bowl of water in the cage next to his, he says "take a bath?" When I ask him " Gabby, how ya doing?" He says, "Okay!" He has a couple different laughs, and then says "You're funny!" He likes to be tickled....although I think it turns him on! LOL! The other day, I said "Gabby, ya know what?" And he said,"what?" When I put my hand in his cage to clean it, he tries to bite me...then says "stop it...bad...sorry, I'm sorry". And then he bites me again. Hee-hee. But he doesn't really hurt. He plays ball with me.


I just love this little bird, as he has brought so much joy and happiness into my life. I don't know why for the life of me, people buy a bird and then ignore it. These birds are companion birds and need a lot of attention. If they are just placed in a corner in a room and left alone, they will literally go crazy.

Because Gabby talks to me, I know his personality a little better than some of the other birds. But the ones that don't talk still are very intelligent creatures that need us and even other birds as companions. When I can't be in the same room with my birds, they have each other to occupy themselves with. There is never a dull moment when you have 18 birds. Also, I have found that playing little kiddie CDs makes my birds happy. So there is always "Old McDonald" or another nursery ryhme playing in the sunroom, where I keep my birds. They all kiss me and I let them out of their cages a couple of times a week. But the Quakers come out every day!

If one has never experienced great love for our animals and birds, then they are missing out on a wonderful part of life!