The Guinness Saga

It was also in 1991 that I began attempting to get Puck acknowledged by what I thought was the Guinness organization in New York City. I went to the library, looked at the latest paperback edition of The Guinness Book of Records, and noted the publisher’s address. I read in the book that an African grey parrot named Prudle, residing in England, held the world record for talking, with nearly 800 words heard. She had won the “Best talking parrot-like bird” title at the National Cage and Aviary Bird Show in London for 12 consecutive years (1965-1976). She retired undefeated.

I knew that African grey parrots were considered the best talkers of all the parrot species. But what about a special classification for parakeets? By July 22^nd, 1991 Puck had a documented vocabulary of 274 words, which I had concluded was a record for a parakeet. So I wrote the publisher detailing my documentation, and asked if they would consider establishing a new classification for “The most talking parakeet.” I received a speedy response, basically stating “no.” Well, I thought, at the rate Puck is learning he will soon surpass Prudle, and so, sure enough, on November 12^th I wrote a second letter. In it I noted that Puck now had 778 words in his vocabulary and when he reached 1,000 words, which would be in about two months at the rate he was learning, I wanted to submit him as the most talking bird in the world. I also noted that I had 17 ½ hours of tape recordings at that point, as well as a written log of all words spoken, etc. I enclosed a newspaper article about him, mentioned other media acknowledgements and signed off. No response.

I wrote again in January of 1992 with a further update (over 1,000 words now), and asked for documentation procedures. No response. In February I asked a local reporter, who had written an article about Puck, to intercede for me. He called the publisher and was told by the editor that the matter “would be looked into.” I finally received a letter dated March 25, 1992. It stated that the talking bird record was “specifically judged at bird competitions. The judges themselves would provide us with the necessary verification.” I then proceeded to make several phone calls to bird experts around the country, only to learn that we didn’t have any talking bird competitions in America! The whole situation was crazy and I gave up. I would continue to document Puck, albeit much less intensively, because I had other matters to take up my time and energy.

My parents were elderly and required a lot of attention. My father didn’t look like he would live many more months and my mother was going blind. Because of them, and my discouragement over the Guinness business, I only taped Puck for 3 1⁄2 hours during 1992. As a consequence, I only noted 157 new words that year! My father died in October and I then became very involved with exploring medical procedures to restore my mother’s sight. In the middle of that endeavor, an English acquaintance, Isolde Price, visited us in February 1993. She was in our house for half an hour before we left to go out to dinner, but during that brief stay, Puck flew to her hand and started talking uninterruptedly. Isolde was flabbergasted and asked me many questions about him. I summarized his feats and my experience with the Guinness publishers in New York City. She listened to all of this, and we did not refer to Puck again the rest of the evening. I didn’t even see her again, but in March she sent me a copy of the letter she had mailed to The Guinness Book of Records in Enfield, England. In it she told them about the bird and suggested that they get in touch with me. My reaction was one of surprise, because Isolde had never suggested that she would approach them, nor had I even thought of asking her to do so. I knew that Guinness headquarters was in England, but I assumed that, being in America, I should deal with the American publisher. I had also felt that the U.S. “branch” would be more enthusiastic about “one of its own” usurping an English record holder rather than vice-versa.

Well, the British Guinness folks answered Esolde’s letter very promptly. In their response they stated:

“Whilst we would prefer any attempt to be carried out under similar conditions as to the record we publish i.e. under competition conditions, we will look at any details submitted to us by Mr & Mrs Jordan. We would not accept tape recordings as sufficient evidence and obviously an attempt should not be carried out anywhere there could be hidden speakers or devices.

In order to authenticate a claim, we would require signed statements from two independent witnesses who should be of some standing in the community. The species of bird should be identified as well as the conditions that the attempt was carried out under.”

Aha, I was now ready with my plan for documentation. I would approach the Redwood Empire Cage Bird Club, most members of which owned various parrot species, and ask for volunteers. These volunteers would come to my house and take notes on everything they heard Puck say during a 1-or 2-hour time span. They would sign and date their notes, as well as provide some biographical information about themselves. I would then type the notes and mail them copies of both the handwritten and typed material. On a separate sheet I would alphabetize the new words heard at each session. The first session would have a comprehensive list, but subsequent sessions would have only a list of the new non-repeated words heard. The original handwritten notes, my typed originals and the word lists would eventually all be sent to Guinness. I wrote Guinness a letter detailing the procedures I was going to follow, and even though I never received an approval, I never received an objection either, so I went ahead with my plan.

I gave a talk at the club’s monthly meeting and recruited several volunteers, two of whom observed Puck on two occasions. Among the club’s volunteers were a couple of avian veterinarians. Meanwhile, at my local pet shop I recruited a self-trained naturalist. This lady, Bonnie Cromwell, owned over 100 animals, worked as an assistant curator of reptiles at Marine World and had her own business. The business involved taking exotic animals to schools, clubs, fairs and parties as an educational endeavor (also very entertaining). Bonny had an exceptional ear for Puck and also observed him on two occasions.