Which Birds Can Talk? Parrots, Mynas, Crows and Other Mimics

Which birds are the best talkers?

Only a few groups of birds can learn new sounds by ear. Scientists call this vocal learning, and it has evolved in three groups: parrots, songbirds (the large group of perching birds that includes crows and starlings) and hummingbirds. Hummingbirds learn songs but have never been known to copy speech. The best-known talkers are:

Other parrots that often learn to talk include macaws, eclectus parrots, monk parakeets and rose-ringed parakeets. Among songbirds, the Australian magpie, the northern mockingbird and the tui of New Zealand have also been recorded copying human words.

Parrots: the champion talkers

Parrots are the most famous talking birds. The African gray parrot is often rated the best because it produces very clear speech and can learn to use words meaningfully. The most famous gray parrot, Alex, was studied for 30 years by the scientist Irene Pepperberg. He used more than 100 English words and could name objects, colors, shapes and numbers; see how smart African gray parrots are.

Budgerigars, small Australian parakeets, have tiny voices but can build huge vocabularies. In 1995 Guinness World Records credited a budgerigar named Puck with knowing 1,728 words, the largest vocabulary recorded for any bird. Amazon parrots are loud, confident talkers that are especially good at songs and phrases.

Mynas and starlings

The common hill myna of South and Southeast Asia is one of the most remarkable mimics in the world, and in captivity it can reproduce human voices with startling accuracy. Interestingly, research suggests that wild hill mynas do not copy other species at all; their talent appears mainly in birds raised by people.

The European starling, a close relative of mynas, is a skilled mimic in the wild and in captivity. It weaves the calls of other birds, car alarms and phone ringtones into its own song and can learn human words. The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart bought a pet starling in 1784 and noted that it could sing a version of a theme from his Piano Concerto No. 17.

Crows, ravens and magpies

Members of the crow family, including crows, ravens, jays and magpies, can learn to say a few words or short phrases. Talking crows and ravens are usually birds that were raised by people or live in zoos and wildlife centers. Their voices can sound eerily human, though they rarely build large vocabularies.

In the wild, ravens and crows use a rich range of calls and can copy sounds from their surroundings, such as other birds, dogs and engines. To tell the two apart, see crow vs raven.

Lyrebirds and other mimics

The superb lyrebird of southeastern Australia is one of the greatest mimics on Earth. Most of a male’s song is made up of imitations of other birds, and its copies are so accurate that the original species sometimes cannot tell them apart. Lyrebirds kept in wildlife parks have copied camera shutters, car alarms and even chainsaws.

There is even a talking duck. A captive Australian musk duck named Ripper was recorded in 1987 saying a phrase that sounded like “you bloody fool”, which he probably learned from his keeper. No other waterfowl is known to have imitated speech.

How do birds talk without lips?

Birds do not have vocal cords like ours. They make sound with the syrinx, a voice organ deep in the chest where the windpipe splits toward the lungs. Because each side can work separately, many birds can make two different sounds at once.

Parrots shape sounds in a way that is surprisingly similar to people. They move their thick, muscular tongues, open and close their beaks and change the shape of their throats to produce vowel-like sounds. Mynas and starlings rely more on precise control of the syrinx. The result is not a perfect copy of a human voice, but our brains fill in the gaps and hear words.

Why do birds copy human speech?

In the wild, vocal learning helps birds belong to a group. Young parrots learn the contact calls of their flock, and many parrot species have regional dialects. A pet parrot treats its human family as its flock and copies the sounds that get attention, especially words that are repeated often.

Songbirds may mimic for other reasons. Male starlings and lyrebirds with larger, more varied repertoires are often more attractive to females. Some birds may copy alarm calls or predator sounds to scare off rivals or to protect their young. Wild parrots normally do not copy people, but in Sydney, Australia, some wild cockatoos have learned phrases such as “hello darling” from former pets that joined their flocks.