The Wisdom of Victor

Victor the Budgie is dead, but chronicles of his complex grasp of the English language lives here, thanks to his owner Ryan, who recorded his detailed conversations, and now works with Victor's parrot mate Betty (who's learned quite a bit from Victor). There's a page of audio excerpts of Victor's assorted stories, including some addressing his impending passing to the afterlife. If you can't quite make out the words amidst the squawking, the Quicktime player scrolls subtitles so you can follow along. The author has also links to assorted Nostradamus quotes that predict parrots talking = arriving doom for mankind, and apparently owners of the birds in this guy's internet group were squawking about the December tsunami in the month before it happened.

Victor explaining his feelings for new cage mate Betty:

"Ryan yes. Victor complains, don't busy. Want to play because you poo in your cage. Tell a me Ryan. Where her bin? Who's like Betty? What is she use to doing? What is the part in computer that's deflect her heat? Your boy Anthony. That's a mic. Ryan. Betty likes to try and play pick up a penny. Ryan OK she try and talk...nice. Betty's a buddy, Victor. I should marry her maybe. Gimme some."

Another recording called "I'm Real Mad", where owner Ryan explains: "In this one Victor knows I'm going to complain about him saying that he doesn't understand what Betty is saying. I've joked with him before that I don't believe him when he tells me that he understand's Betty's chirps. But after this one I think I may have been wrong. He must have had a bad day because Anthony (the son of Ryan) didn't believe something he said too. Finally he had enough and this is what he says:"

"Betty asks for carrots. Ryan he will be complain. Are you Anthony? He just thought Victor lies. He should believe today. He thinks that I can be dishonest. I'm real mad. I'm so mad. I want you go away back to school."

Audio not convincing enough? There's also a video page, with links to clips titled "Your Tongue Is Karate", "Inquest of Board", "Bombs of Love", "The Tax Con", "Don't Be a Toadstool", and the one filmed of Victor talking with God before his death "Victor's Judgement." According to Ryan, a DVD is forthcoming, and he is taking donations on his page (which today's chart unfortunately shows a grand month total of $0). Perhaps parrot-fronted grind metal band Hatebeak will do a benefit? Victor. A teacher. A comedian. A poet. A story teller. A saint. A friend. A phenomenon.

Thanks to Listener Andy Oglesby.

Comments

[Ryan]

Thanks for the article and posting the links. Don't forget to check out the other 20 context speaking budgies we have in our group as well.

[Oddio Katya]

Why was Victor the budgie never brought to the attention of the scientific community? Irene Pepperberg, who has accomplished ground breaking work with African Grey Parrots, and colleagues would probably have loved to have interacted with Ryan and his budgie. It is good to read that there are other budgies suspected of contextual speaking, rather than mimicry. I hope the human companions do not miss their opportunity to contribute to the scientific body of knowledge. Until the community can confirm these findings, it is likely best to remain skeptical of the amount of contextual speech in question.

[Ryan Reynolds]

I don't believe Irene has any interest in what we are doing. She has not shown any thus far and I am sure she is aware of our work as it is well known on the internet. As far as she is concerned, her most intelligent Alex only has the IQ of a three or four year old. She thinks it is amazing that Alex can grasp the concept of zero. Our budgies are far beyond anything that Irene is doing. The concepts they communcate are mind boggling compared to Alex. Lastely, I am the leading expert in understanding budgie language and members in our group are leaders in the field as well. She would have a very limited understanding of what our budgies are saying and could not be classified as an expert in this field.

[Listener Katya Oddio]

Irene is not the scientific community. I mentioned her only because she gained credibility by presenting her results. Have your findings been presented to the academic world? Are they verifiable? It sounds like an amazing discovery worthy of the scientific journals.

[Ryan]

Sorry, I just noticed that this post was not answered. It is better late then never I guess.

Unfortunately, I believe getting this verified by the scientific community is way beyond what scientists want to believe right now. On May 1st, 2009, they just got together and agreed that parrots have a sense of rhythm which is only found in a few animal species. They learned this from watching videos on YouTube apparently. Recently I have been improving the quality of the videos I have of Victor, due to the recent advances in video technology. I have also re-translated some that were poorly done years ago. My understanding and translation abilities have improved quite a bit over the years, but I didn't have the time to re-caption and re-edit all the videos. Here is a link to a recent video I just updated on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBy1ZmKuGbA

A few years back I was featured in a large article in the Toronto Star about Victor. I have also been on Coast to Coast talking about parrot intelligence twice. I hoped that that would bring some scientific interest, but even that wasn't enough. I have to also mention that there is some paranormal and spiritual influences on myself and the budgies that generates a lot of controversy as well. My direction changed quite a bit when Victor and the other budgies started talking about prophecy, God and spirituality.