COMPARISON Timneh to Congo African Grey

• Probably the most often asked question we receive is regarding the comparison of the two species;

• Congo have a red tail and it remains red in adulthood.

• Timneh have a brownish red tail, but it changes to dark grey at adulthood.

• Congo grow to about 150 per cent the size of the smaller Timneh

• The beak of a Congo baby is black and will stay black thru its adult life.

• The beak of a Timneh baby is black, but will change to a Watermelon color as adult.

Both Timneh and Congo can learn to mimic.  The Timneh being the smaller bird generally has a smaller voice.   We have found no difference between the two, but be aware that individual birds are different, same as children in the same family are many times, different.

The same is to be said of the two sexes.   One individual bird may make a better pet, may learn to mimic better than one of the opposite sex, but we don’t find that can be attributed to a certain sex or specie.    It may be because of it having a better environment in which to develop certain talents.

Another frequent question is, Do all African Grey select one person to bond to at the exclusion of all others?   Most parrots in the wild will select another bird to Bond To.   This is the natural thing.    To combat this instinct we recommend that several members of the family work with the bird, feeding and caring for it.   This may no always work, but we know it sometimes encourages the bird to trust more than one individual in a family.   Our motto is,” If you don’t Trust your bird you can’t expect it to trust you.”