us who have been fortunate enough to have shared our lives with them are profoundly affected by their unique and wonderful personalities.
What is it about Greys that touches us so deeply? Whether they are silly or serious, affectionate or cranky, most of us who have been fortunate enough to have shared our lives with them are profoundly affected by their unique and wonderful personalities.
Walking Contradictions: In many ways, African Greys seem to be, as the old song says, a walking contradiction.î More than any other hookbill, they like to call the shots in their own lives. They can be aloof at the beginning of their relationships with their people, only to become loving companions after weeks, or even months, have passed. THEY ultimately decide when to make the decision to cement the friendship. Ever independent, they are extremely devoted to their favorite person...once they've decided to give their hearts away; however, they are not adverse to holding a grudge if that same individual steps out of line and does something unforgivable, such as leaving town too often on business trips...or getting married to someone else.
The differences between African Greys and other types of birds extends into the world of aesthetics. It embarrasses me to admit that, during my earliest experiences with hookbills, I had been seduced by the size and flamboyance of great Macaws, as well as the goofy playfulness of the Amazons. The Cockatoos, although not colorful, had a certain flash and glitz that made them appeal to me. At the time, I simply did not find African Greys to be very attractive. Their small heads, football-shaped bodies and relatively drab coloring did not seem as appealing to me as did their more vibrantly colored and physically ìbalancedî cousins.
Eventually, however, as in many cases of true love, my appreciation of African Greys crept slowly into my consciousness until, one day, I realized just how much I absolutely adored them. I now find them to have a sleek and elegant beauty that their colorful cousins do not possess.
African Greys often exhibit an interesting and irresistible combination of impishness and seriousness, combined with an intelligence that can be downright unnerving. They also possess a focus and intensity that most other birds do not. There is a curiosity there, too. They can seem almost scientific in their demeanor. I have seen them watch a behavior by a human, or another bird, and then duplicate it in some way. Some will dance like their people, and I even remember reading of a Grey who used a stick to imitate his favorite person smoking a cigarette after dinner!!! I wonder if, like many of my clients birds, he even had the cough to go with the habit he was imitating....
Clumsiness: Many things that would not bother an Amazon or a Macaw will drive an African Grey absolutely crazy. This tends to annoy some Grey people because they don't understand the world from the Greys perspective. GREYS ARE CLUMSY!!! I think they were one of Gods earliest models, along with the Dodo and other now-defunct species. After God made Greys, He then decided to give all of the other birds in the world a break and make them aerodynamic. Because of this, African Greys can be much more reactive to their environments than 
other birds. The earth is a more threatening place for them...especially if their wings are clipped too short, or their perches are too fat and their little feet can't grip them tightly enough. They can fall and injure themselves...and they are bright enough to know it!
Unfortunately, baby African Greys are often maligned because of their clumsiness, and we are usually the ones who create the situation. Instead of allowing the youngsters to snuggle up against our bodies, offering them feelings of comfort and security, we hold them too far away and THEN try to pet them. This makes the babies feel as if they might fall. Sadly, humans usually do not pay attention to their Greys expressions of discomfort...and, the birds are forced to nip them. The people then get angry at the babies, who were trying to tell them that they were making them feel uncomfortable in the first place! The poor little guys are often left frightened and bewildered...by the very people who are supposed to be their best friends and protectors!
Wisdom: There is something about Greys that pulls at the heart. I think that it started, for me, when I first gazed into the solemn dark eyes of a very young baby and felt as if someone much older than that little guy was staring right back! It was as if the youngster was hooked into some great universal data bank and simply knew everything there was to know...past, present and future. There was a wisdom and a wonderful stillness, a peace, inside that baby that I deeply appreciated and that changed my feelings for Greys forever.
Some African Greys remind me of little old men in gray flannel suits. These are the grumpy guys who only want to have attention on their own terms. Unlike the clingy Cockatoos, or rowdy Amazon parrots, these old men are deeply offended by any behavior that they do not approve of. If sufficiently peeved, they are ready to hold grudges for inordinately long periods of time...and, they seem to take a perverse degree of pleasure from doing so. Those feelings of pleasure, unfortunately, seem to be inversely proportional to the amount of anguish that their people suffer as a result of the punishment.
Luckily, like most birds, as well as people, these types of African Greys are not immune to the healing effects of flattery and unconditional love, and they respond well to large doses of both. I think I personally get along rather well with these types of Greys because they remind me of my father.
One of my favorite types of African Greys are the scholars-with-a sense-of-humor. If they were humans, they would be the campus dweebs, complete down to the plain white shirts and plastic pocket protectors. Although they would have keen and cutting senses of humor, inside would beat the hearts of poets...soft and sensitive, and much more easily injured than they would ever let on.
I am often asked about my own personal favorite African Grey. I have one Timneh, who is at least 15 years of age,
whom I adore...as well as two Congo Greys, a 25 year old that I adopted about five years ago and Ishtar Kismet, a 4 year old. I must admit to being blatantly prejudiced in my feelings for the youngest, my baby, Ishtar. I won her in a raffle in St. Louis several years ago. She absolutely hated me for the first few months and spent them thinking up new and creative ways to make my life miserable. I think that she associated me with the negative feelings she had from both the physical exam that she needed for her health certificate, as well as, the long plane ride to California. However, after several months of unconditional love (on my part) and countless bandaged fingers (also on my part), she just woke up one morning and decided that she loved me. Since that day, she has been a playful, impish and joyful companion, with the gift of being able to make me laugh at any time that SHE chooses to do so. I love her beyond measure...and, she knows it.
The greatest and, I think, the most wonderful difference between African Greys and other companion birds is the unique and powerful bond that develops between them and their favorite humans. They possess a kind of magic that alters the ordinary into something extraordinary. There is a softness that comes to their features when they gaze upon someone that they love that, when combined with their innate intelligence and intensity, is irresistible to those mortals who have been chosen to be the recipients.
Of the many different species of birds that I work with, I believe African Greys to be among the most intelligent and genuinely sensitive. They are also usually lousy singers, pretty good dancers and absolutely fabulous best friends to those who respect, appreciate and love them for what they are, and who are fortunate enough to have shared their lives with one of these incredibly special beings.
Chris Davis pioneered the field of Avian Behavior in the 1970s while consulting at the Animal Actors Studio at Universal Studios. She gives lectures worldwide and does private telephone consultations. She can be reached in California for a consultation at (626) 355-2267.
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