| You comment about 'expressions of emotion' reminded me to tell this story. We have had wild Rainbow Lorikeets visiting us for over 20 years.
In our recently previous home we were up to 5 generations of birds, then we had to move. There was one who was obviously out of her usual flock, and at the edge of desperation, who allowed me to hand feed her, and she was the first wild bird who decided to come inside and have food. For over 10 years she came every day, met a mate after about 2 years, and taught him to come and sit beside me on the couch in the afternoon. Then, over the next 8 years we had many families join us. She grew to understand us, even appearing to understand us when we were happy, and when we were sad - that little Lorikeet really appeared to be empathic.. When she flew off to die (just last year) she told us in her own way, to look after her husband.
The next day, her hubbie turned up disconsolate..
He didn't want water..
He didn't want food..
He just sat in his spot on the top of a chair and cried.. This went on for a week, with us force-feeding him (well not really, but hand-feeding).
Over the next few weeks, his visits became less frequent - but at least he was eating. Smart parrots like Lorikeets somehow appear to share so many similar 'feelings' as us.
We even had one who spoke English and had a great sense of humour who understood context. |
Having a bird, I'm sort of amazed how people just don't understand just how complex and deep things can go.
I speak to other folks with birds and am amazed. I met one lady picking her cockatiel up at the vet and she told me it was so convenient that her bird can say yes and no. But she couldn't talk. So I asked how it worked. She said the bird could choose between two different color cards - one was for yes, the other was for no. Then she would answer questions "Do you want to go to bed?" "are you hungry?" I didn't know how the bird was taught, the lady said the previous owner had taught her, but this kind of stuff is common.
Also, more in line with your experience, you might like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wild_Parrots_of_Telegraph_...