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Get right down to it, there's really only two contenders for "smartest" bird. The African Grey and the Amazon. Not gonna go into all the sub-species of the Amazons, but the yellow-headed, double yellow-headed and the blue front seem to be the more intelligent of the Amazons. On the Grey side, there's only the Timneh and the Congo. Most folks seem to feel the Congo African Grey or CAG, holds a bit of a lead over the Timneh African Grey (TAG).

I'm owned by a CAG, Augustus Greyus Maximus. Also have two blue and gold macaws, and as smart as they are, they can't hold a candle to the Grey. Gus has a vocabulary of well over 200 words.

Thing is...he uses many of his words in what's called "situationally appropriate" ways. Not just a mimic, many Greys say things you'd never expect at the oddest times. Sure, they'll repeat many things they hear, and that qualifies as "mimicry."

However, as one example, when we hear one of our birds drop something, we say "uh, oh, dropped it." So, when you're working in the kitchen, and your Grey is on a stand nearby and you drop something, would you think the bird would say, "Uh, oh...dropped it?" Well, Augustus DOES that. Not always. Which reinforces the situationally appropriate argument. If it was EVERY time, it'd appear he was "trained." No, Augustus CHOOSES when to say most of his phrases.

There are times he'll just hang out on his cage and rattle off fifteen or twenty phrases he knows. "What's a pirate say?" "Where's Augustus?" "Here I am, over here." "Wanna come out." There's a lot more, but you get the idea. He's got a BIG vocabulary.

There's also an Amazon in our family. My daughter and son-in-law rescued one some time ago. He's a bit of a difficult bird, but they've made tremendous progress with him. He whistles more than talks, but he's picking up words and phrases from his human family now, too. Buster is older, some 30 years old or so. Being a rescue, it's hard to determine exact age. How many owners has he had? Who knows? What kind of life has he had? Again, there's no telling.

So, we have, in our immediate family, both of the so-called "smarter" birds. Right now, I'd have to say my money's on the Greys for the most intelligent. Part of the reason I say that is because of Alex, the all-too-famous CAG that Dr. Irene Pepperburg has been working with for over 25 years! Alex is simply amazing...there's no other word for it.

He counts and understands the concept of zero! It took humans thousands of years to understand zero and

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