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Thanks. I will probably go with smaller birds as you suggest. I've read very positive things about Budgies.
Go to PetSmart or Petco or local breeder and buy a young one. One with markings on its forehead. Play with it for at least 15 min to 30 min every day and you're almost guaranteed a tame pet.
Grampa, Budiges are great little birds, can be a little chattery, but easy keepers and typically tame down easily.
I would suggest going to a breeder, petco and petsmart "parakeets" (the Americanized smaller version of the budgie, though technically the same species) are from mass breed production farms with no guarentees on age and not handled as youngsters, they CAN be tamed but its a lot of work especially if you don't know how old.
a good breeder will e able to give you a much better idea of each youngsters personalities and they'll already be used to being handled
budgies are also surprisingly good talkers, while their voices arnt nearly as clear and consice as larger parrots like greys and amazons their vocavbulary is actually often larger. a little English budgie actually holds the world record or NUMBER of words known...(though budgies are more likely to ramble words rather than form setences like the larger parrots)
I love my little budgies, probably my faves out of the small hookbills.
parrotlets might be another nice option, they are essentially "mini" amazons, a little more "personality" but fun little birds
I have rescued dogs and cats but I have never seen birds for adoption. Where does one look? I have been thinking of getting a bird.
I had 3 birds for many years (1 African grey and 2 conures), and then I was going to move overseas. Taking them was not an option. I put an ad up for them and was contacted very quickly by another bird owner suggesting I take the ad down immediately, or change it to selling the birds, because advertising them "free to a good home" was a recipe for some owner of a large snake to "adopt" them as dinner for the snake.
You might try to find out if there is a bird rescue organization anywhere near you.
petfinder dot com has almost 2 thousands birds to rescue at the moment. 187 Amazon Parrots, 192 Cockatoos and on and on all resulting from overbreeding by greedy breeders, illegal import and incompetent owners. Rescue if you want a bird.
I had 3 birds for many years (1 African grey and 2 conures), and then I was going to move overseas. Taking them was not an option. I put an ad up for them and was contacted very quickly by another bird owner suggesting I take the ad down immediately, or change it to selling the birds, because advertising them "free to a good home" was a recipe for some owner of a large snake to "adopt" them as dinner for the snake.
You might try to find out if there is a bird rescue organization anywhere near you.
The last I check, rats and chicken are pretty cheap, and they are alot more meatier than any conure, parakeets or parrots.
I had 3 birds for many years (1 African grey and 2 conures), and then I was going to move overseas. Taking them was not an option. I put an ad up for them and was contacted very quickly by another bird owner suggesting I take the ad down immediately, or change it to selling the birds, because advertising them "free to a good home" was a recipe for some owner of a large snake to "adopt" them as dinner for the snake.
You might try to find out if there is a bird rescue organization anywhere near you.
I had a grey and could not move with him so I went to my avian vet and he spoke to a few of his favorite customers that he thought would make a good match. Ended up giving him to a wealthy woman who was a widow, and had a very large sunroom with several parrots of her own and was very well versed with them as well as responsible and financially secure.
The most amazing parrot I met was a Yellow Nape Amazon. A customer brought him in the storage office when I worked in Stanton, CA. He talked, he was very friendly, and got on my hand at the first request of "step up".
(I mean the parrot, the guy was to big).
His wings were NOT clipped.
The owner and I walked out to the parking lot with the bird, and he let him fly out like the way falconers send out their trained raptors. The Amazon made a huge double circle over our head and when the owner whistled he landed on his right hand immediately.
I wish our dogs were so obedient. Anyway, don't try this at home, please.
We have a Noble Macaw, the size of a really fat cockatiel. He can bite as bad as any 30-pound dog or larger.
I made an armored glove. I cut PVC pipe in 1-inch lengths and stuffed the pieces into a large heavy duty leather glove. Ben gets tremendously frustrated when all his vicious efforts go completely wasted.
When he is in a good mood he sits dancing on my finger like a sweetheart. Other times, and they do come up, I need the glove. I'm able to read his body language now, but in the beginning I got bitten sometimes.
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