His name is Jet.
He's kind of shy, but if you're lucky enough to meet him, he might open his beak and squawk "hello."
Jet isn't your average crow –- he can talk.
The friendly bird lives at the Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre near Winnipeg. And last winter while working near the crow's room, Tiffany Lui, a co-ordinator at the rehab centre, received an unexpected greeting.
"I first thought it was people outside waiting for me to come bring an animal, or something like that, but I realized after a while that it was actually coming from his room," Lui told CTV Winnipeg.
"He would just say 'hello' every once in a while."
Nobody actually taught him to talk," she added.
Jet is picky about his friendships -- he will only share his talents with a select few, and rarely speaks to strangers.
But according to staff at the rehab centre, he's sometimes good for a laugh or two. Lui says Jet imitates the voice of one of the female volunteers.
"When he says 'hello' he sounds exactly like her, and when he says 'who's out there' and even the laugh is very much sounding like her," Lui said.
According to a spokesperson for the Winnipeg zoo, crows are considered highly intelligent and have the ability to imitate sounds they hear. In fact, a 2014 study found that the New Caledonian species use reason at a level comparable to a seven-year-old human. The same species has been known to use twigs as a tool.
"They're part of the corvid family, and they're very intelligent birds, so being able to imitate is not of their realm," said Lui.
Jet was rescued by the rehabilitation centre four years ago. At the time, the fledgling was found with a fractured wing.
The injury never healed well enough for the crow to be released back into the wild.
Instead, Jet will serve as an education ambassador to help teach kids about wildlife.
The rehab centre has brought in an expert who works with parrots.
The hope is that Jet will eventually open up and reach his full potential.
With a report from CTV Winnipeg
