Budgerigar - Budgerigars and Humans - Mimicry

Mimicry

Male specimens of budgerigars are considered to be one of the top five talking champions amongst parrot species, alongside the African grey, the Amazon, and the Eclectus parrots, and the ring-necked parakeet.

Puck, a male budgerigar owned by American Camille Jordan, holds the world record for the largest vocabulary of any bird, at 1,728 words. Puck died in 1994, with the record first appearing in the 1995 edition of Guinness World Records.

In 2001, recordings of a budgerigar called Victor got some attention from the media. Victor's owner, Ryan B. Reynolds of Canada, stated Victor was able to engage in contextual conversation and predict the future.

Though some believe the animal was able to predict his own death as was claimed, further study on the subject is difficult without the bird. The recordings still remain to be verified by scientific analysis. Critics argue Victor's speech in the recordings is not coherent enough to be determined as spoken in context.