Northern Colorado Bird Alliance Presents

Dr. Lauryn Benedict presenting

“What are Talking Parrots Telling Us?”

Thursday, September 10th, 2026
Social time with Refreshments: 7:00
Announcements 7:20;
Member Slideshow 7:30;
Fort Collins Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Dr.

***This program will also be accessible online using Zoom***

It will also be viewable in-person at the Senior Center.

Enter the following link on your web browser at 7 p.m. and follow the instructions to join the meeting virtually: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87383773817

Parrots are one of the few groups of animals that can learn vocalizations throughout their lives. Why do they learn so well? What makes some birds better at vocal gymnastics than others? The Many Parrots Project is investigating these questions (and more) with the help of companion parrots and their humans. The project has data describing how over 1,200 individual parrots mimic human speech. Join Dr. Lauryn Benedict, to hear what these data have revealed about cognition and vocal learning across a range of parrot species. If you know a parrot that talks, whistles, or sings, you can contribute to this research by visiting https://www.manyparrots.org/.

Dr. Lauryn Benedict is a professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado and a researcher in animal communication and social behavior, using bird vocalizations to study how signals evolve in nature. Through a combination of community science, field observation, and sound recording analysis, Dr. Benedict studies the function and evolution of male and female vocalizations in a wide range of birds, including parrots and Colorado wrens. She holds a bachelor's degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Join us on September 10th for this informative program that is free and open to the public.