Pip, our male cockatiel is quite the talented little bird. We found this out last summer, having only had him for about two months.

It was a lovely summer evening and we sat in the garden chatting away, we heard the telephone, so we rushed in to answer it, only to find the phone stopped ringing as soon as we entered the room. That was not unusual, many people don't ring for long and assume we are out. So, we went back outside to enjoy the rest of the evening.

No sooner had we sat outside, the phone rang again, we don't believe this, we thought! Again we ran into the house, and yes, you guessed it, the phone stopped ringing! Not wanting to be caught out a third time we stayed just outside the lounge door and within a few minutes..the phone rang....But...it wasn't the phone at all! It was Pip!!

Pip had mimicked the phone sound so well, it was realistic enough to have us running about all evening! There he stood on top of the cage, going.."brringbrring..brringbrring....we couldn't believe it, he was so good.

Once he knew we found out his little game he smiled and chuckled we swear!! Then proudly said "Hello Pip"...."Hello".

Of course, Pip still mimics the telephone just for fun, but he is so clever, he is not content with just mimicking the house phone any more.. oh no...now he mimics the sounds of our mobile phones.....and in a large family that's rather alot of mobile's!! We know he just thinks it's great fun to see us all checking our mobile phone to find out!!

Pip loves all the attention and will even mimic these sounds on command...we only have to say.."Pip..Hello..telephone"..and right away Pip goes "Brringbrring...Brringbrring"..."Hello Pip..Hello" !

Pip is Cheryl's and Mark's Cockatiel

©2002