sentences:  However, supporters of Alex mention that Alex was able to talk to and perform for anyone involved in the project as well as complete strangers who recorded findings unassisted and during first contact with the bird, making the arguments of rote learning and operant conditioning difficult to substantiate.Scientists in France and the Czech Republic have also had some success in teaching grey parrots to label items referentially using human language, albeit using a different teaching methodology to that of Pepperberg—which was found to be ineffective in the case of the particular birds within the study.Talking birds are used as a plot element in fiction, notably in many works by Gabriel García Márquez.