Parrot Species That Talk

All birds, like humans, learn to vocalize when they are young. However, most birds just learn the chirps of their own species or of other birds. Parrots generally have a greater ability to vary their vocalizations and most species can be trained to learn human words or mimic nonbird sounds, such as phones, dogs and cats. Certain parrot species are better than others and can learn a large human vocabulary.

  1. Budgies

    • The Budgerigar, also known as a budgie, is not necessarily known as a chatty bird, as it can be a challenge to teach to talk. When it is receptive to learning and trained well, however, the little budgie can be amazing. The Guinness Book of Records lists a budgie named Puck as having the largest word vocabulary of any bird with over 1,700 words. As pets, budgies are easy to tame as they are highly social. An experienced owner can certainly get them to communicate in some way even if its just excitable chirps and whistles.

    African Grey Parrot

    • The African grey is the opposite of the budgie in terms of talking. The vocabulary is still a decent size, but greys are not shy about talking. They are, in fact, prized for their vocal nature. Although African greys are chatty, they are quiet compared to some species, such as macaws, which screech and scream loudly. The grey is more likely to use its words to communicate. They are intelligent birds with a social nature and they quickly learn to mimic and communicate with their human owners.

    Quaker Parakeet

    • The Quaker parakeet is a medium-sized parrot species that has an inquisitive social nature and is prized for its talking ability. It is a South American species, which are highly adaptable and have actually managed to establish wild populations in the U.S. Because of this, some states such as California, Hawaii and Kansas do not actually allow the Quaker to be sold or kept as a pet, in case they escape into the wild.

    Amazon Parrots

    • Amazon parrots are highly sought after for their speaking abilities and quirky personalities. They are a medium to large parrot species and, like most parrots, are social in nature. The birds form strong bonds with their owners and these bonds are often long ones. Like many large parrot species, Amazons live for up to 50 years in captivity.

    Indian Ring-Neck Parakeet

    • The Indian ring-neck is not just chatty but is also adept at learning other tricks. It is a large parakeet species with exceptional intelligence, which allows them to learn words quickly. They also can be taught to perform dexterous tasks, such as threading beads onto rope, ringing bells or picking up particular objects on demand. The ring-neck does tend to screech and can be a little noisy in a less-entertaining way.