Parrots are known for their ability to mimic human speech and other sounds. This advanced vocal learning ability allows parrots like budgerigars, cockatiels, Amazon parrots, and African grey parrots to imitate a wide variety of noises and songs. But parrots don’t just randomly vocalize – there are certain songs and sounds they are naturally inclined to love singing.
Songs with Whistles and Beeps
Parrots love mimicking tunes that contain whistles, beeps, trills, and other mechanical sounds. This includes songs like:
- Pop goes the weasel
- The Andy Griffith theme song
- R2D2 sounds from Star Wars
- Beeps and blurps from microwaves and cell phones
These electronic-sounding noises are easy for parrots to recreate. The whistles and beeps stimulate their natural contact calls and allow them to improvise fun variations. According to avian veterinarian Dr. Brian Speer, parrots have a musical aptitude for “filling in the spaces between those hard, staccatosuffused notes.” Mimicking pop culture beeps and jingles gives parrots a chance to exercise their vocal abilities.
Songs with Clear and Simple Melodies
Parrots also love to sing simple, repetitive melodies that are easy to remember. These songs have clear lyrics and melodic lines that a parrot can easily follow. Favorites include children’s songs like:
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Row Row Row Your Boat
- Three Blind Mice
- The ABC song
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm
The simple, repetitive lyrics and melodies in these nursery rhyme-like tunes make them catchy and fun for parrots to imitate. The songs also play into parrots’ natural flock calling vocalizations, allowing them to bond with owners as they chirp and sing together.
Songs with Frequent Repetition
Parrots learn through repetition, so they enjoy mimicking songs that repeat lyrics frequently. Songs that have a chorus or phrases that repeat several times over tend to be parrot favorites, such as:
- Jingle Bells
- Happy Birthday
- Frère Jacques
- She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain
- Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The recurring words and melodies in these songs allow parrots to memorize and rehearse the tunes. Once they master the repeated lyrics, parrots will happily belt out these sing-along classics.
Songs with Clear Whistling
Since parrots are natural whistlers, they are attracted to songs that feature clear whistling melodies. Popular folk songs with whistled refrains like:
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- Blue Tail Fly
- Sloop John B
- Sweet Betsy from Pike
- Down in the Valley
allow parrots to showcase their whistling abilities. The strong whistled hooks give the birds a simple melody to lock onto and mimic. According to Dr. Cynthia Fastenau, a bird vocal learning researcher, the whistles stimulate parrots’ natural contact calls, which may explain why parrots enjoy whistling these tunes so much.
Songs that Owners Frequently Sing
Parrots love to sing songs that their owners frequently sing around them. They form strong social bonds with their owners, so mimicking their favorite tunes helps the birds feel connected. Parrots might learn partisan political jingles, favorite oldies, or current pop hits based on what housemates enjoy singing the most.
Some parrots become amazing “karaoke machines” by memorizing the songs their owners sing and then belting them out word-for-word. But they might mix up the lyrics in silly, creative ways that reflect their playful personalities. Familiar songs that owners often play allow parrots to harmonize and engage in mutual vocal play.
The Sounds of Nature and Other Parrots
In addition to manmade songs, parrots also love mimicking natural sounds they would hear in the wild. This includes bird calls of other species, sounds of wind and rain, and noises made by predators or prey. African grey parrots, for example, have been shown to mimic sounds like camera shutters, dripping water, crickets, and bells in captivity.
Mimicking nature sounds helps satisfy parrots’ wild instincts in a domestic setting. It allows them to showcase their vocal learning talents while exploring sounds that feel innate to them. So while parrots will readily jam to the Hot 100, they also maintain a love of vocalizing like their ancestors in nature.
Conclusion
Parrots have a natural musicality and vocal playfulness that make them skilled vocal mimics of many sounds. While they can imitate a huge variety of noises, parrots especially love singing songs that feature beeps, clear melodies, frequent repetition, whistling, and their owner’s favorite tunes. Their advanced minds and social bonds produce a love of song that allows parrots to interact with their human caregivers in a joyful, musical way.
| Song Elements Parrots Love | Example Songs |
|---|---|
| Whistles and beeps | Pop Goes the Weasel, R2D2 sounds |
| Simple, repetitive melodies | Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Old MacDonald Had a Farm |
| Frequently repeating lyrics | Happy Birthday, Take Me Out to the Ball Game |
| Clear whistling | Blowin’ in the Wind, Blue Tail Fly |
| Owner’s favorite songs | Partisan political jingles, pop hits |
| Sounds of nature | Bird calls, wind, rain, predator and prey noises |
References
- LaBute, M. (2020). What tunes do parrots love to mimic? Audubon. https://www.audubon.org/news/what-tunes-do-parrots-love-mimic
- O’Neill, E. (2021). How the songs parrots love can rewild our feathered friends. OneKindPlanet. https://onekindplanet.org/animal/parrot/songs/
- Jarvis, E. D. (2004). Learned birdsong and the neurobiology of human language. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1016(1), 749-777.
- Hoese, W. J., Podos, J., Boetticher, N. C., & Nowicki, S. (2000). Vocal tract function in birdsong production: experimental manipulation of beak movements. Journal of Experimental Biology, 203(12), 1845-1855.
- Péron, F., Rat-Fischer, L., Lalot, M., Nagle, L., & Bovet, D. (2011). Cooperative problem solving in African grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus). Animal cognition, 14(4), 545-553.
