African greys can sound exactly like the human they are mimicking. When I did a lot of in-home care, training, and behavior consultations I heard a lot of strange things...A guy paid me to listen to his bird then hunt around his house to find out what item made this horrific squeal the grey was immitating, turned out to be the door to his woodstove (the guy was kind of deaf, but his guests were very unhappy).
A lady called for a consult because she thought she wasn't caring for her bird properly, it was sneezing and coughing. Aftering hearing the bird, I asked her if any humans in her family had been sick. Her son had had a bad cold that turned into bronchitis and the bird did a very convincing copy. Birds can't really cough like people and when I heard it blow it's nose... One guy had an amazon parrot that would call his dog in the man's voice, then when the dog showed up, he'd yell, "Bad dog, Goldie" until it slunk away (poor dog probably needed a shrink). The worse one was a grey who learned all the construction sounds from the house being built next door, including sawing, hammering, and cussing!! Cherie
