# Whistling Tunes



## love bortie (May 1, 2011)

Bort is very fond of a whistle that sounds like a cat call. He learned it from this Pixies song called La La Love You. I've always been proud of this little quirk until I saw this amazing video of another white-faced cockatiel singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcuKlnlCQYI


How old do you think this bird is? My bird is almost 2 yrs. He does prefer whistling to playing with toys. I want to engage him as much as possible. 

Does it take a long time for a tiel to learn a whole tune?

Any tips as to how to train Bort to whistle?


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## lperry82 (Aug 2, 2010)

I suppose you can record it and stick it on repeat might be a good idea
i did this with the wolf whistle lol


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## Dave & Tito (Aug 1, 2010)

When it comes to whistling, the same rules apply as the rules for talking; they learn faster when their emotions run higher. Apparently it's no coincidence that the most common word parrots learn is 'hello', they learn this because their emotions spike when we enter the room after being absent for a while and this is the first word they hear.

Tito has learnt three tunes: wolf-whistle, Pop-goes-the-weasel (that line only) and the main line from The Simpsons theme. Each he has learnt because I whistled them repeatedly in the first few minutes when I arrive home and he's excited, and other high energy times such as when he joins me in the shower (he sings loudly in there).

I got a BIG SURPRISE with Pop-goes-the-weasel. I whistled that too him every day for 4 weeks. He never seemed to like it and stared blankly at me. After 4 weeks, I stopped trying. Five weeks passed without me ever repeating it. Then, suddenly we came home one day and he did it perfectly... for 1.5 hours, repeatedly. We called friends and held the phone up so they could hear him doing it over and over and, rather than being impressed most were sympathetic that we had to live with this new broken record.

Later that week I came home during the day and made it to the front door without him knowing I was outside, and I could hear him whistling up a medley of all his known tunes, mixing them up with sounds I have never heard him make in my company, or since. I am convinced he had been practicing pop-goes-the-weasel in private for weeks before he decided to sing it for us.

Has anyone else caught their tiels practicing in private?


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## Saxonmalone (Jul 19, 2011)

wow lol thats the best andy grifith wistle ive heard from any tiel, any tips on teaching mine??


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