Bird dances to music
Frostie dancing to Ray Charles' "Shake Your Tail Feather." I really do believe this bird is dancing! (via Dan Lyons)
Frostie dancing to Ray Charles' "Shake Your Tail Feather." I really do believe this bird is dancing! (via Dan Lyons)
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I find myself head-bobbing along with the bird.
That bird is funky as he wanna be.
I for one welcome our new dancing parrot overlords.
There's always the risk of over-anthropomorphizing animals, but I do believe that to some degree, it's a valid observation. So yep, I do believe this bird is dancing. It's amazing the intellect that some birds can pack into such a small brain.
That is a very cool bird, but it's not surprising that a parrot would have a good deal of musical intuition.
the bird is following the BELL his female owner is waving behind the ccamera.
oh yes! brings back childhood memories to the parrot Lorre my uncle had for many years who'd dance the same way when the musicians of uncle's funkband were rehearsing at his home :)
Do birds dance to other birds' songs? My parakeets would bob their heads, but they didn't chortle very rhythmically, and I don't know if they were dancing to their own "music."
I can believe the dancing theory, but as an alternate explanation: someone behind the camera is dancing too.
I don't believe that bird is "dancing" to the music, he isn't even in sync with the beat, so I see no proof that he is directly responding to the music. In my opinion, this is simply the result of behavioral shaping.
It's a trained bird, the impressive aspect is that it's got such a large repertoire and the time it must have taken.
Trained or not, that is the happiest-looking bird I think I've ever seen! :)
that bird was rockin' OUT!
: D
anyone who has lived with a parrot knows they are capable of everything we are.
Aww I want to believe he's dancing so much!
bell theory: when i first heard it, i pictured the jealous pet dog (with a jingly collar) anxiously investigating why it is that he/she isn't getting all the attention.
I have two African Grey Parrots sitting behind me as I watched this, one of them started bopping along with it. It seems a lot of parrots do this. My birds get particularly excited about really heavy music. They seem to be fans of Venetian Snares in particular.
Oh, and also, all this "training talk", I don't train my birds to "dance". They definitely respond to music, no question about it. It seems this "dancing" is something they just do when they are excited. They don't have good rhythm, but they do seem to speed up and slow down with the tempo.
Many birds are known for doing mating dances. Even if the bird is being trained to dance it's still dancing. Has anyone ever taken dancing lessons? Do you repeat the trained steps in some form of time to the music. That's still considered dancing.
I have never owned a bird, but have taken care of some for a while and yes, they do respond well to music. These birds were no Frostie but they did head bob fairly well. Despite their small brains and obvious lack of rhythm which even us white boys suffer from, they were able to bob somewhat in time.
#13 Everything? Can they read the comments on boing boing and make a snarky reply like this?
Who cares either way, this is TOO funny.
#9 @ERGI:
"In my opinion, this is simply the result of behavioral shaping"
The same could be said for your post.
My brother wrote a song about his parakeet Bert. Bert would dance and chirp excitedly whenever my brother played that song. ("Bert, Bert the Crazy Bird.")
dt10111 - Your parrot has impeccable taste.
The parrot in The Ladykillers (the scene-stealing General Gordon) dances to Boccherini - can't find a clip, tho' - and it's not as elaborate as this...
I wanna see a flock of 'em doing the Electric Slide.
Hey, that parrot is stealing my moves! Awkwardly bobbing your head back and forth with your feet locked in place, while unable to find the beat -- that's my signature move.
What a hack.
I can only think of the wing-clipping mutilation that took place to deprive the bird of its ability to fly and to deprive it of one of its most basic behaviors. Keeping them indoors as a form of living ornament is one of the worst characteristics of our species.
Snowball the Cockatoo puts this fool to shame.
Actually, if you look in the background of that video, you'll see an African Grey getting his groove on. Ours dances exactly the same way, but he has terrible rhythm (he tends to rush). He seems to like progressive folk the most, if anybody is keeping score.
My parents have an African Grey that responds to certain music — especially with solid beats and high, clear tones, either electronic or brass. He doesn't like rock music, but turn on "Jump Around" or "Stars & Stripes Forever" and Sinbad goes nuts.
#27, Your comments reveal your ignorance of pet bird ownership. Birds' wings are not mutilated, but rather a few of their longest flight feathers are trimmed (think haircut rather than surgery). This is not permanent, and it does not so much deprive a bird of its ability to fly as make it difficult enough that it can't get up enough speed to kill itself hitting a window or fly for miles if it gets outside.
While some people may keep small finch-sized birds as ornaments, most owners of larger parrots tend to give them the same amounts of attention, love, and care a well-kept dog receives.
Dunno if this one is dancing. But some neurologists think that the youtube cockatoo can dance. It does seem that if any animal can dance, it's birds.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/magazine/14ideas-section01-t-003.html?_r=1
No less an authority than Nature has tackled this problem, and concluded that Snowball's dancing (and presumably that of other cockatoos) is the real deal.
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080625/full/news.2008.914.html (subscription required)
mike hopkin
For all those who doubt avian wisdom, in my youth on vacation at Atlantic City, I lost handily to a tic-tac-toe playing chicken. Same chicken then let me win all night at poker before sending me to the cleaners. Doubt at your financial peril...
the camera is shaking. i believe this is because someone is dancing with the parrot off camera, which means its possible the parrot is imitating someone, which is slightly less impressive.
similar to the 'dancing' polar bears I used to see at the zoo many years ago.
Whether it's really dancing or not, this is the coolest, cutest thing I've seen all day!
Ah, Man! I just LOVE birds!! (... with the right sauce.)
This may be the greatest video I have ever seen, anywhere. Oh, what am I saying, "may"?
My name is Karla Larsson and I am the person who owns Frostie and who shot this video.
Frostie has never been trained to dance and this was the first time he'd heard or danced to this song which makes his performance absolutely astounding and baffling.
Granted, a friend was behind me waving a white hand towel around to keep him from turning around and dancing with his back to the camera which he so often does.
I was stunned and amazed while I watched his performance that day and could hardly wait to upload the video to YouTube!
Thank you to the webmaster or whomever posted Frostie's video as doing so has generated a lot of views.
There are more videos of Frostie dancing on my YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/onepickiechickie
Thank you,
Karla K. Larsson