Curious Cockatoo Greets People With A French Accent

Cockatoos are extremely intelligent and curious birds. They are affectionate with people and demand a lot of attention and stimulation. Sid, a sulphur-crested cockatoo, is no different and he closely examines and greets new guests. But when the time comes to greet them, he imagines he is Inspector Clouseau and switches to a French accent!

He climbs on Dave's arm and inspects him curiously while saying hello. Nobody knows how he learned to say "Allo" with a French accent or why he does sometimes does it, but he decided that a simple "Hello" would not do. Knowing that cockatoos have very powerful beaks, poor Dave was more than a little nervous about Sid's intentions but Sid is a very gentle bird.

We wish Sid would learn a bit more in French than a simple “Hello”, How about “Ca va?” (“How are you?”) or “Comment tu t’appelles?” (“What is your name?”). Even some simple stuff, like “fromage”, or “creme” or even “creppes”....those are simple words that just roll off the tongue, right? That would have been totally hilarious.

Almost all cockatoos are able to learn between 20 to 30 words; some go even further and mimic the voice of the person that taught them these words. But most of these birds just “babble”, where they spurt different sounds that seem like talking, but don’t form meaningful sentences. Still, it is pretty awesome to have a bird that can scare off intruders by talking almost like a human!

Watch this bird speak in a French accent.