# Teaching Tiels to whistle?



## Peek-A-Boo (Aug 5, 2007)

I've had my little male tiel for one week now, and have been working with him everyday to gain his trust. I am also working with him, to see if I can teach him to say "Pretty Baby". He's so cute, he moves his beak, and whispers little noises, when I repeat "Pretty Bird"! My husband says the bird is probably saying, leave me alone!
I've read that you should teach your cockatiel to talk before you teach them to whistle, otherwise they won't talk, so that is what I'm doing. I do have a question about teaching your cockatiel to whistle, however.
When teaching them to whistle a tune, do you have to whistle to them, or will they pick up a tune just by hearing it many times (Not whistled)? I ask this because I don't whistle well.
Thanks...Linda


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## xoxsarahxox (Dec 13, 2010)

I cant whistle too well either so what I did with Cupid is I looked for youtube videos of cockatiels whistling the tune I wanted him to learn and then played them for him.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

My cockatiel learned whistles before talking. He only says one phrase though. What I did was find a youtube video of a girl saying "pretty bird" over and over again and just let it repeat. He perfected it off that. He was trying to say it before I ever played the video. So he wanted to learn it. 

As to whistling- I've been playing just songs to Grey with no success. So I should try videos of whistles and see how it goes.


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## Ichigo (Sep 7, 2011)

How long did it took you guys to practice him say or whistle a song because showed any results?


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## Indigobug1987 (Feb 18, 2012)

I would talk or whistle to mine for 10-15 minutes three times a day. Stick with your chosen word and just say it to your bird all the time. ALL THE TIME. Mine learned to say his name in just a couple weeks. It doesn't take long just persistance is key. SOMEtimes your bird just won't say what you want. My bird has learned three tunes and two prases in 4 months but he will not sing one tune i've been trying since the beginning. Just doesn't like it I guess.  Good Luck!


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

Ichigo said:


> How long did it took you guys to practice him say or whistle a song because showed any results?


Last night, I turned on a video of the mickey mouse being whistled by another cockatiel. Somebody picked up on a piece of the song after just an hour. Even if you are playing it for them, and they are making no noise- They are still listening. But repetition and patience is the key... And being able to stand the annoyance of listening to something over and over and over again. lol.

Grey perfected pretty bird in about a week of hearing it every night for a couple hours at a time.


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## Pikatiel (Jul 3, 2011)

We've been whistling the original Mario Brother's theme to Pika since we got him. In the last month or so he's gotten really chatty (he was pretty silent before). Now he'll start singing his own tune and dancing and throwing some Mario Brother's in there too, especially if I give him the first few notes. He'll also throw in my "I'm over here" whistle sometimes and a little Twinkle Twinkle too. He's an artist! 8D


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