Looking to adopt my first bird!

[sarahw]

Hello everyone!

I am excited to find this wealth of information on all things birds. I grew up owning a cockatiel and with close family that had an african grey. I knew when the time was right I would have a bird of my own. My fiance and I finally bought our first home this last summer and now we are ready to add a new feathered baby to our life. We are spending this time researching what bird would be the best fit for our life. We both work in IT related fields and anticipate that we will be working from home after the pandemic ends. With that being said, we are looking for a bird that will love to hangout with us while we work maybe on our shoulders or on it's own perch in the same room as us. I realise that birds are like dogs and like people all with their own personalities, and no one species is always one way... so it is pretty hard to narrow down which bird we should get. Any suggestions for a bird that loves be with us, snuggle, and play with us - but is also not going to scream our ears off when it's on our shoulder or in the room when we are working? Do you find that birds scream mostly when it is seperated from its person or flock, or is it unpredictable? I know that my past cockatiel would usually only scream when it was away from us and would be pretty relaxed once he was reunited with his 'flock'. Is that true of most bird species?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I look foward to hearing everyone's responses!

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome to the forum. For an easy going bird, it's pretty tough to beat a cockatiel.

 

[Ira]

Any species of parrot will thrive on the home conditions you mention. They’re the best a parrot owner (parront) and the bird can hope for.

Guarantees of its love, good behavior, etc., even under the best of conditions?

Forget it. You just never know.

You have to go into it knowing that there are going to be problems, regardless of species. If there aren’t any...

That’s a hell of a bonus. Just like having kids.

When you encounter the inevitable problems, you’ll learn to understand and hopefully correct them...which is very satisfying...but there’s a limit to how much you can “fix” any bird.

 

[Aves]

 

[Maggiebird]

Welcome to the avenue!! Like you said all birds have there own personality’s. I would go some place to see different types of parrots or other birds and see what they are like. I made this mistake a long time ago thinking that all budgies were quiet so I’m not the greatest with this!!I would try to narrow it down. Since you don’t want a bird who will scream a lot that eliminates bigger birds so now your with medium and small birds. I will let you go from there It’s your decision!

 

[zoo mom]

Welcome.

 

[Ripshod]

 

[BirdWorld]

To the avenue! On doing so much research! And by coming to AA, you’re definitely on the right track to being a totally awesome parront!

 

[Hankmacaw]

All birds make noise, but my female GW was so very quiet that I had to go check on her. She loved me dearly and I her, but she would tolerate only about 10 seconds of hugging or cuddles. She would sit on the arm of my chair for hours then go hang out on her favorite place to sit an look out the window for hours. She didn't play a lot, but preferred to play alone or for me to rough house her. When on the rare occasion she would yell, I'd just call back to her and she was happy. She was a Greenwing macaw - supposedly one of the noisiest birds, but she wasn't. Had the huge GW beak, but never bit me, but bit others.

I recommend you not make a science project about which bird t get, but get the bird you want.

 

[Chomskypom]

Hello and welcome!! That does sound like a wonderful home environment for any bird

A common (and I think appropriate) piece of advice around here is to try to find a rescue where you can spend time around actual live birds and get a feel for personalities, noise levels, etc. Another great benefit of doing this is that they'll know when an individual comes through that sounds like a good fit for you, even if maybe it's not the kind of bird you expected. If that's not possible, it's okay. You're doing great with research!

I suggest looking at logistics- how big a cage can you fit/do you want, what's your toy budget per month, stuff like that. Once you know the BIGGEST bird you'd be comfortable having, that helps narrow it down. I do agree with others that a small-to-medium species is likely to be a better fit for your life. Spend some time browsing the Good, the Bad and the Ugly pinned threads for anybody you're interested in and see how those real life experiences line up with what you've read elsewhere.

 

[sarahw]

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

I think that adopting a bird from a rescue where the staff already know the personality is such a great suggestion!

 

[Sparkles99]

 

[expressmailtome]

Welcome, and enjoy the site!