This is Hal.

3 Months Old and a heck of a good guy.

He's a Congo African Grey. The smartest of all the big birds.
He can have a vocabulary up to 6000 words and will out live most of us with a 70-80 year lifespan.

I picked him up yesterday from a breeder after watching him grow since hatching in December.

Isn't it amazing that these little creatures live longer than most of us!

6000 words is amazing. You should train him to take customer calls in that case.

I am sure you will have fun with Hal. What can he say so far?

So far no vocabulary.
Considering his lifespan and the fact he's only 3 months old it's not unusual.
He will start saying some words in the next few months.

Good idea on the customer service angle. He will probably have better skills than a lot of customer service reps that I have dealt with in the past.

He might be able to earn his keep. Crazy expensive to get one of these buggers.

That seems too high. Is that documented, or breeder sales talk?

In any case, I know that they're very smart, and with the special socializing skills they should make great pet. I gave my wife a budgerigar some 10 years ago, and, even though it has such a small brain, it still knows a number of phrases, some of which appear to not be randomly uttered. Pretty amazing. And I'm sure that your Hal will be way smarter, and way more fun.

Now you make me curious. How expensive?

AWSOME!

Wow... I had no idea their lifespan was that long. Imagine being an old man and still having your pet bird(s)!.... I wonder how many words it will be able to speak by then?

Actually it's more urban legend than anything Dan, but several hundred words and the ability to use those words in sentences has been documented, as well as the birds ability to identify shapes and colors.

As far as cost goes it would vary depending on your location.
This guy was $1300 plus another $600 for his cage and $200 for toys and food to get him set up.

Not really a lot more than a lot of people pay for a purebread dog.

Hal is a beautiful bird. Congrats Blue.

Nice new addition! One of my friends has a 12 year old and he never stops talking. When they leave the house they leave the childrens chanel on the tv so he can learn different things. Really great stuff!

And the price you picked him up for is a pretty decent price. Nice to see that a breeder waited for you to be familiar with the bird and not just a sell to make a buck. Many breeders for the Grey's require you to spend time visiting a few times a week before you can take them home.

Like this one?

WARNING FOR KIDS: lots of bad words involved that we do not want you to learn!

*(thinks of cost)*

If I buy 5 birds for my CS department .. I'd save $x,xxx a month ... and it'll break profit in .. 8 months or so ... I'll take it

That gave me an idea for April fools next year

Here is a photo of him shortly after hatching in December.
Not exactly a majestic creature.

That's his brother behind him.

He looks like a real chicken on the early shot!

Yep, just like that one

Do a hunt on youtube for some videos, there's plenty out there too. Nice find on the "dontevenreply.com" site. never seen it before, some great stuff!

Just read a bunch of dontevenreply emails - good stuff

@blue - how much did your bird weigh at birth? It looks pretty big.

He's cute!