ParrotSpeech.org
The home of the pioneering macaw Arielle
This site deals with the abilities of one talking bird and is intended to be a resource for potential bird owners, anyone interested in speech perception, people who are interested in the development of language in nonhumans, and bird keepers who wish to share information about their talking birds.
For information about my book describing Arielle's speech, click here to transfer to the site page for Another Kind of Mind.
Arielle the Blue & Gold macaw Arielle is a friendly Blue & Gold macaw. Macaws, like other parrots, can talk.
She has a large vocabulary and has spoken more than 4000 different expressions. Arielle understands English. At times she speaks directly to her human friend.
She freely vocalizes most days. Her speech contains sequences of statements about many topics, and she carries on conversations with herself and imagined friends.
She is one of a handful of birds around the world who can communicate ideas through speech. The author formulated the idea of listening to her voluntarily spoken words as a new approach to interspecies communication.
Her speech was recorded during her voluntary, free-speech talking sessions, to document what she said; this technique I call: ‘Passive Speech Research.’ The recordings preserve what Arielle said. Playback of her recorded speech permits analysis of speech events referring to people, places, and things. The recordings provide documentation for events that may have occurred in the past and to which she refers.
To hear Arielle's greeting, click the play button to the right.
Arielle says, "Hi! ... Hello."
To see and hear information about Arielle presented on a Florida TV show, click on the link below. Look for
"Seen on TV." If segment does not come up, search for "parrot," then select article about "Is Arielle Talking?"
Interview about speech research/cognitive speech clip from WTVT-13 FOX, Tampa 29 September 2010
To hear another greeting said by Arielle, click the play button to the left.
Arielle says, "Have a good day!" (laughs)
(She learned the phrase from people in the street; this version recorded 18 August 2009)
Appearances & Events
In June 2009, she will be 18 years old. Arielle is a shy bird, especially around strangers, and as a "free-speaking talking bird," she speaks voluntarily. She accompanies me on a daily visit to a park or a walk about the neighborhood, and during our outings, she occasionally speaks directly to me.
A form of interspecies communication results when she speaks to me. I call Arielle "an educated bird" rather than a trained parrot. The term educated means that she continues to learn language, and Arielle speaks as a result of learning things from lessons. She also learns on her own by associative learning. A speech sample can be heard by clicking identified sound selections located near yellow boxes throughout this site; transcription of Arielle's words appear in another yellow box near the bottom of the same page. Many speech samples appear on the Another Mind page; the transcriptions are in the book Another Kind of Mind.
Many people consider macaws to be mediocre talking birds. Arielle might be an exception. She vocalizes daily from her gym on the porch; her remarks often contain sequences of invented statements that express her thoughts. Listeners initially find her recorded speech difficult to understand, but after seeing a transcription of her statements they are startled by the range of her conversational topics as well as her general comments.
Arielle is learning English at an advanced grade-school level. Her linguistic abilities include:
- Arielle speaks of her free will and communicates many different messages.
- Arielle speaks with as many as five (5) different voice characteristics.
- Arielle is learning the English language and can make complicated statements.
- Arielle asks questions, and she sometimes answers her own query (ha, ha).
- Arielle identifies other animals as ants, butterfly, cat, dog, rabbit, and snake; her vocabulary to describe birds includes: bird, cardinal, crow, egret, "feathered friend," hawk, parrot, and stork.
- Arielle knows common words that begin with most letters of the alphabet, but she hasn't needed to speak words that begin with "X" or "Z" yet.
- Arielle speaks about many every day things and speaks sequences about a single topic.
Information about appearances, presentations, events to "meet the author" and attend a book signing for Another Kind of Mind: A Talking bird Masters English
Check for new listings because future additions may appear, including appearances by Arielle.
| WHO | WHEN | WHERE | WHAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike | 14 July 2019 Clearwater, Florida | Clearwater Library 100 N. Osceola Ave Clearwater, FL 33755 (727) 562-4970 | Meet the Author Authors speak with the public about their books. I will have a PowerPoint video playing about Arielle's speech. Books are for sale and will be signed on request. Bring questions about an animal learning language. |
| Mike | 27-30 June 2012 Speaking: Thursday 28 June 2012 @ ~2:30 p.m |
5th EASLCE International Conference on "Natura Loquens: Eruptive Dialogues, Disruptive Discourses" Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain |
Convention Paper/Presentation-- "Disrupted Dialogue: A Macaw Learning Language" (Communication between bird and man ruptures due to inattention.) |
| Mike | 25-26 August 2012 Speaking: Saturday 3 p.m. Sunday: 2 p.m. Click for brochure about 2012 All-American Hookbill Fair & Seminar--Gateway Parrot Club |
2012 All-American Hookbill Fair & Seminar--Gateway Parrot Club Machinists Hall 12365 St. Charles Rock Rd., Bridgeton MO (St. Louis) |
(Saturday) Beyond … "Polly Wants a Cracker"™: Parrots Using Language (Sunday) Beyond … "Polly Wants a Cracker"™: Humans Limit Interspecies Communication with Parrots |
| Mike | 06-09 March 2013 Speaking: Wednesday 6 March 2013 at 9:00 p.m. comparativecognition.org/conference |
20th Annual Conference of the Comparative Cognition Society 3101 North Highway A1A Indiatlantic Beach, Melbourne Florida | Speech-Language Disparity Lack of perception for elements of language ... "Passive Speech Research": cognitive speech, use of synonym & pronoun substitution |
Enjoy this song segment featuring Arielle. Introductory text appears before the "Blue and Gold Macaws" song.
Click video to hear the Blue and Gold Macaws song featuring pictures of Arielle
ℹ️ Notice !!!
As of February 2026, there is a new group at Google that deals with speech by talking birds and other topics of interest for bird enthusiasts, linguists, biologists, animal trainers, or anyone who wishes to explore concepts relating to communicating with a talking bird. The description appears below.
People interested in the study of spontaneous speech by talking birds. The topics of concern include learning about parrot-like birds, speech perception, linguistics, cognition, consciousness, and other topics related to the talking birds. To join click on the image below or submit your request to the group by entering the subscription link into your browser.
Subscribe email: parrotspeech@googlegroups.com
⚠️ CAUTION !!! ⚠️
All of the pictures and materials contained on this web site are the property of the author.
None of the pictures or written material may be used, quoted, or reproduced in any form what so ever without the expressed written consent of the author.
© 2003-2026 by Michael Dalton