From Flo the Yellow-naped Amazon, who sings opera, to Candy the budgie, who wants to cuddle, parrots are flamboyant both inside and out. With about 340 species to choose from, parrots make up more than 16 percent of the 50 million pet birds worldwide.

Parrots, along with lorikeets, cockatoos and parakeets, fall under the class Aves and the order psittaciformes. Their habitat ranges worldwide, but most species prefer the warm, tropical climates of Australia, South America, and southeast Asia. In general, wild parrots mate for life, nesting in large cavities either underground or in hollow trees. Some species, such as macaws, lay two eggs from which only one youngster will survive.

But what is more interesting than parrots' speaking ability is the fact that they develop different "languages" in the wild.

Harvard biologist Michael Schindlinger, pictured below, has studied Yellow-headed Amazons in the forests of northern Mexico since 1994. Not only can he recognize meaning behind the birds' song, but he can pinpoint their "accent" to within a few miles of their home range -- a regular Professor Higgins of aviculture.

But no matter how flowery their song is among the trees, he notes that the parrots still rely on a deep-rooted oral tradition of a few important phrases that signify basic communication between the parrots.

By recording songs from different Yellow-headed Amazon populations and analyzing their musical scores by computer, Schindlinger found his study group to have a dialect different from that of another population about 60 miles away. 

Meanwhile, a third group located 100 miles away had a completely different song. "It was like a whole different language," he says. This difference in song helps birds recognize each other, but it can also help law enforcement officers recognize where birds, confiscated from poachers, may have been caught in the wild.

Talk to Me

While parrots are social animals, this does not guarantee that they will become chatty pets. According to Dr. Irene Pepperberg, whose African Grey parrot, Alex, demonstrates his knowledge of shapes and colors on NATURE, "some parrots simply will not learn human speech, and owners need to accept that possibility." 

Dr. Pepperberg says that the birds constantly boss around the lab staff by asking for different treats and toys, and asking to be tickled. "Alex requests showers," she adds. To help support her research at the University of Arizona, Dr. Pepperberg has established The Alex Foundation.

Photo: center right, Michael Schindlinger.