I'm at my wits end with my Grey

[merlin]

Dear Merlin,

As you can see by the title of this email, my parrot is causing me some worry and grief!
He is 25years old, and I have had him for 10 years, although I have known him for 16 years, and the previous owners have had him from a chick!
MY problem is, that all of a sudden over this last week, he (kizzy) has started to make random noise,,like "phapphap..phapphapphapphap" etc, all through the day, and most annoyingly all through the night too,I am seriously becoming very tired and at most frustrated.
I have made no changes to his living arrangements/diet/toys, he is eating and drinking and talking like he normally does, I do leave the telly on when I go out to work!
Have you any ideas, or experienced this with other grey owners?
Yours sincerely,
Cheryl

[merlin]

Hi Cheryl,

I'm not aware of other greys making consistent day and night noises, such as this. Have you had Kizzy vet checked recently? It always is a good idea when something unusual happens.

What does the noise sound like to you? Could he be imitating something, even such as a bird outside in the yard, such as a woodpecker or something? Try to think about some sound in your home that he could possibly be imitating, or starting to imitate (ie.. got part of the sound down). Also, do you remember anything different that happened around the time when he first started making the sound?

I have sometimes noticed that the older greys and sometimes the older male greys seem to make a quiet, but purring-type sound... but not loud enough to upset you. So, this is a curious thing. But it sounds like to me that Kizzy has picked up on some sound that he has started imitating lately. Turn off your TV and sit in your home and open your ears to see if you can hear any specific sounds in your home... and if something is starting to break or if the vibration is a little off, such as the furnace or the refrigerator, and so on. Just try to investigate all of the sounds around your home and see if you can match any parts of them to Kizzy's sounds.

Please keep me posted.
Blessings,
Maggie-
www.AfricanGreys.com

[Lisa A. Bono]

The only thing that comes to my mind is something new in his view that he does not like. It is not normal for a bird to make a noise day and NIGHT. If nothing is new in the environment, I would suggest a vet visit. It may be medical such as a noise during breathing. Keep us updated and if you can, please send an audio or video of this worrysome noise.