The New York Times On Parrots

Parrots are often pretty

and occasionally witty

but can be more raucous

than a Republican caucus.

But when it comes to food

their behavior's rarely good--

it's  more  likely to be rather loud and  atrocious

with a dash of ferocious

because they're related to falcons, birds of prey,

so its in their DNA.

Over the  ages their  talent for mimicry became extremely good

mainly to understand and blend in with other birds to find food

plus

 "the ability of some parrots in captivity to move to a musical beat "

can rival that of  expert human dancers in dexterity and heat.

The most celebrated dancing parrot is Snowball, a sulfur-crested cockatoo with a trademarked name whose YouTube dance performances to Queen, Michael Jackson and the Backstreet Boys have been viewed some 15 million times.

Snowball (TM) - Our Dancing Cockatoo - YouTube

▶ 4:29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7IZmRnAo6s

Oct 15, 2007 - Uploaded by BirdLoversOnly

Snowball (TM) is a Medium Sulphur Crested Eleanora Cockatoothat dances to the Back Street Boys and ...

Many are quite  intelligent too

especially  African Greys and Goffin's Cockatoo:

Dr. Pepperberg and her collaborators have shown that African grey parrots have exceptional number skills: Alex could deduce the proper order of numbers up to 8, add three small numbers together and even had a zerolike concept — “skills equivalent to those of a four-and-a-half-year-old child,” Dr. Pepperberg said.

Dr. Auersperg and her co-workers have found that Goffin’s cockatoos are more geared toward solving technical tasks. Alternately using their bills and feet, the birds can systematically make their way through a lock with five different complex mechanisms on it. Should they discover that one of the steps can be skipped en route to opening a chamber with a nut inside, they skip it the next time around.

And in an act of ingenuity that Dr. Auersperg called “sensational” for an animal not known to use tools in the wild, a cockatoo named Figaro one day started carefully chipping at the edge of a larch wood frame until he had formed a long, slender pole, which he then wielded in his bill like a hockey stick to knock out pebbles and nuts hidden under boxes.

“It took him 20 minutes to make his first tool,” Dr. Auersperg said. “After that, he could do it in less than five minutes.”

In addition to  such scientific information and levity

the article also mentions some  parrots' extreme longevity

and it ends by resorting to a rhyme

for the next parrot publication  time:

 Share a video with us that shows why your parrot, parakeet, macaw or cockatoo is unique.

 (and) We'll collect some of our favorites in a video later this week.

HzL

3/22/16

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Parrots Are a Lot More Than ‘Pretty Bird’

Out of the cage, they speak their own language, make tools, and wreak havoc on plants and researchers’ efforts alike.