Thanks everyone for the warm welcome!
Some species I'm considering are green cheeked conure, sun conure, cockatiel, quaker, and canary winged parakeet. I'm aware sun conures are very loud and that could be an issue, particularly if he/she became very jealous of my other birds and didn't want to 'share' me--thus constant screaming. I'm concerned about bird-on-bird aggression and jealousy mainly... worried my softbills could be hurt by a jealous parrot.
After researching, I don't think a quaker would work, as I've heard they're very territorial and I'm not sure whether the conures would be likely to tolerate my other birds either. I know every bird is an individual and species is only a predictor of possible traits, but I definitely don't want to take a major risk by adding a bird with a high chance of being aggressive and intolerant of other birds and end up being unable to provide him/her with the attention he/she deserves.
I've been leaning quite strongly to cockatiel for this reason, but would appreciate any advice any of you have to offer. I'm personally fine with some high volume vocalizations as long as it's not constant-- I actually would prefer a loud call a few times a day, or in response to certain stimuli than constant lower volume chattering all day. Spending time with a new bird wouldn't be an issue except if he/she couldn't share me with my other birds. They have separate cages, of course, but they come out together for play time in a safe room under supervision. Most of them go about their business and aren't overly clingy, but they do land on me off and on and the starlings in particular are pretty velcro. The biggest issue is that my most spoiled baby barely tolerates being in a cage at all, so that could be a problem as far as providing true one-on-one time, which is why I'm concerned about aggression.
I'm looking for a bird who's got a lot of personality (I can tolerate moodiness; I just worry about my other birds) and is interactive and loves to be with their person. I'm drawn to the parrot way of manipulating objects and playing differently than what my softbills do. I'd like it if he/she is more 'hands-on' than my starlings--as in head scritches and possibly harness training. (I don't mean touching inappropriately!) It would be cute if he/she trusted me enough to play dead. Talking is not important to me, so I'm open to a quiet female cockatiel. I just fear the chronic egg laying I've heard about.
Anyway, thanks again for the welcome.
