Picking the right species, need advice

[Laurasea]

Really you are ahead of how most of started by coming here and talking!

We all want to make things smoother for you, and prevent parrots from being re homed. As that is a huge problem!! So many don't know what they are getting into. Also while this is your thread, its read by lurkers and huge numbers of people , so we hope to spread as much info as we can.

I had a good chuckle, in that bit if you provide enough stuff to chew they won't chew your stuff. Alas, they love to to explore chews and chomps on everything @ sneaky too! You will have stuff get destroyed. Every few months we seem to have a hilarious thread about things destroyed, or who had the highest dollar amount iteam destroyed. It will happen. Yes providing lots of different chomp toys, of different texture and density helps a lot.

I'm also always pushing for people to have a mind reset when it comes to parrots. They are more like having an alien intelligence living with you, after a they are the last living dinosaurs! Billions of years of separated evolution. They don't think like humans, they aren't human smart, but they are incredibly smart.

They evolved to have complex social interaction, communications, they use their whole body to communicate, feather levels, tight to body, or slightly lifted, head level, wings tight to body, relaxed, wing shrugs, wing stretching, body posture, pupil size, tail flare, tail wags, flushing, neck feather flares even those without crests can raise neck feathers with displeasure, ritual body movements, stomping, banging beak. They can purr, sigh, grind beak, click, and of course alarm call , flock call, and so many other noises. They can even adjust flight noise, they can fligh silent, or loudly, and more. Almost all parrot bites, are from missing their cues.

And parrots see themselves as individuals, and equal to people.

We love them! But there are compromise and sacrifice. And happy parrot people have worked to incorporate them fully into their lives. And thoughtful in meeting their mental stimulation, social needs, and activity level. Bless them dogs and cats spend a great deal of time napping, that's how carnivores evolved. Parrot do their sleep at night, with a rare little nap during the day, the rest of the time busy bees.

 

[vdrandom]

My friend your getting some excellent advice from all the members. I sincerely hope you and the wife consider it all. Parrots are such an engaging, all-consuming companion animal, that a lot of newer owners don't really fathom the depth of it. Truly individuals, capable of changing their personalities and minds, for sometimes unfathomable reasons. Our job as the owners is to try and understand and meet those needs, so they maintain their companion status, and not become some bothersome critter that lives in the closet or basement (yes, that does happen, all too often).

Beaky means that the parrot is all too willing to let his displeasure at something be known with a nip. Not a bite - that draws blood and leaves scars. Think more of a pinch, painful but not overly so. Careful bite pressure training can alleviate most of it, but training has to be rigorous, applied by everyone and has to be 100% consistent.
We have whole threads devoted to bite pressure training on here.

Its great your wife has had some experience in training budgies. I am a great believer in training parrots; it strengthens the bond between you, can maintain high interest in the parrot, and most of all training will allow the parrot to show off how smart they really are. Hopefully the wife knows that you can't discipline a parrot - just does not work and usually sets the relationship back quite a bit.

Good luck in what ever species you choose, and I hope you stick around and regal us with tales of the Russian parrot (I'd love to hear a parrot talking in Russian! ).

BTW, your English is excellent !!

Thank you!

I wouldn't ask for an advice if I had no plans to consider it. So once again, thank you and everyone else on this thread for useful advice.

So being bieaky is about nipping, not biting. Good to know, initially my mind interpreted the word with an image of a demonic bird with a bloodied beak and a couple of bloody fingers on the floor. I'm kinda relieved!

I don't think disciplining works for any animal on an intelligence scale really, be it a parrot, a hamster or anything in between. You have to build trust and mutual respect, that much is obvious, even for me, and the most clever animal I have ever dealt with was a Maine Coon (granted, they are pretty clever for a cat breed!). Suddenly being mean towards an animal achieves nothing, they won't make a logical conclusion you are being mean to them because they did something wrong.

PS. My wife wanted me to tell you all she appreciates your advice very much and how nice you all are. She already plans to share her experience on these forums once we get the parrot, so I guess expect more posts and threads from me.

 

[vdrandom]

Really you are ahead of how most of started by coming here and talking!

We all want to make things smoother for you, and prevent parrots from being re homed. As that is a huge problem!! So many don't know what they are getting into. Also while this is your thread, its read by lurkers and huge numbers of people , so we hope to spread as much info as we can.

I had a good chuckle, in that bit if you provide enough stuff to chew they won't chew your stuff. Alas, they love to to explore chews and chomps on everything @ sneaky too! You will have stuff get destroyed. Every few months we seem to have a hilarious thread about things destroyed, or who had the highest dollar amount iteam destroyed. It will happen. Yes providing lots of different chomp toys, of different texture and density helps a lot.

I'm also always pushing for people to have a mind reset when it comes to parrots. They are more like having an alien intelligence living with you, after a they are the last living dinosaurs! Billions of years of separated evolution. They don't think like humans, they aren't human smart, but they are incredibly smart.

They evolved to have complex social interaction, communications, they use their whole body to communicate, feather levels, tight to body, or slightly lifted, head level, wings tight to body, relaxed, wing shrugs, wing stretching, body posture, pupil size, tail flare, tail wags, flushing, neck feather flares even those without crests can raise neck feathers with displeasure, ritual body movements, stomping, banging beak. They can purr, sigh, grind beak, click, and of course alarm call , flock call, and so many other noises. They can even adjust flight noise, they can fligh silent, or loudly, and more. Almost all parrot bites, are from missing their cues.

And parrots see themselves as individuals, and equal to people.

We love them! But there are compromise and sacrifice. And happy parrot people have worked to incorporate them fully into their lives. And thoughtful in meeting their mental stimulation, social needs, and activity level. Bless them dogs and cats spend a great deal of time napping, that's how carnivores evolved. Parrot do their sleep at night, with a rare little nap during the day, the rest of the time busy bees.

It's great to know answers to some of my questions here are going to be useful to someone else out there.

My wife would like to ask for a more specific information on specific species though.

Do you happen to have any experience with these specific species of parrots: Blue-winged Macaw, Military Macaw and Caique? What can you tell about traits unique to their personality? How they compare to each other?

How do you show a larger parrot you don't like what it is doing? For example, when my wife's budgie was doing something she was not supposed to do (like biting), my wife would produce a loud 'ch-ch-ch' sound or even stop interaction and leave her alone for a few minutes. Does anything like that work with larger birds? Maybe some other methods? Do they depend on particular species?

Did a parrot ever bite you so hard as to draw blood and why did that happen?

In my wife's experience her budgie has never bitten her without a reason, for example:
- When she tried to put the bird into a cage against her will.
- When the bird felt like a treat is being taken away from her.
- When she tried to pet her when the bird was not in the mood.
- Before she earned the bird's trust, the budgie could feel she's in danger and bite her before running away.

 

[Laurasea]

I know those big beaks can be intimidating, but they use them less than others. Birdman has some macaw threads.. I hope our other members will link them for you. I'm not great at that stuff.

I've interacted with a few macaws, but not enough to give direct experience.

Caique are very territorial and will try and kill other birds. Unless you get them as new weaned birds and have a new weaned bird of the other species you want and raise together. ElkenD had hers maim her other parrots, . But I don't have direct experience.

GCC are our biggest problem biters on this forum, followed by Amazon. A GCC may be a very small bird, but that needle tip beak hurts I know first hand! And the reputation as nippy birds is well earned. Yes mine has drawn blood and given me a few very painful bites over our 8 years together. She will bite if caged and I touch her cage. If I'm grooming her pin feathers and bump a sensitive one. If some reason gets spooked by hand. She is lightning fast. But I know her body language and to apologize its been a long time since she has bitten me, but daily she threatenes too.
I has one bad spell of charges and bite attacks. It was because I caused a fear of hands by using my hand as wall between her and Penny when they tried to fight. ( I now use an envelope) so she developed fear of hands. During that same time I had also changed her routine and moved her cage. She was a real mad bird. Took 2 weeks of treats by hand, trust building, and going back to our routine to get her over that. Another bad time was when she developed jealousy of my phone. She would attack me when ever I used the phone, bloodied my lip, my eyelid, and hands, she also attacks phone. So I did a lot of positive associations and treats with phone. Lots if treats whenever I held the phone, now is a non issue.

My quakers are cage protective, especially during breeding season. They will bite to defend cage, and draw blood. They do a lot of beak contact, communicating at other times if unhappy or bump a pin, but its more of a peck, or beak hold, or beak smack, or beak push hand away, or beak sparring. They are carefull with pressure , and don't draw blood or cause a mark.

When I first took in my rescue quaker Penny, she was all over the place, angry, fearful, but also wanting to snuggle. During this adjustment I let her on my shoulder and receiving some bad bites to neck, and a very bloody ear bite. This has never happened since

When I got my petstore quaker Phoebe , she had a huge fear/phobia of hands. Would charge to bite hands, but mostly tried to avoid hands. Took several moths to get her over fear of hands.

Wish I could help you more with your species of interest.

 

[Gemster]

Generally, Caiques are playful and very active. This energy, however, is usually expelled onto biting. Because biting is not commonly a wanted behaviour to us humans, we would want to punish this to prevent the behaviour from continuing. Unfortunately, biting itself is reinforcing to most parrots: the more a behaviour is rehearsed the more likely it will repeat in the future.
I don’t use punishment when I interact with any animal. It damages the relationship between animals and humans and it may make them scared of people, which isn’t our ultimate goal.
Gemma (caique) used to be quite nippy. She enjoyed playing rough with me when she was younger but this was when she would nip the most. As every interaction is a training session, I would prevent her nips and take my hand away before she would even think of chewing my finger. I did this with every interaction and taught her that there was another way of playing. As she grew older I didn’t have any problems with ‘beakiness’ as I prevented it from becoming a bad habit.
Caiques are extroverts and will tell you what they feel when they feel it. If they do not like someone, you will know, but if they do, it’ll be the most rewarding relationship. If they want something, give it to them before they start a war jk.

 

[noodles123]

Sorry to write another novel (it is out of love):

Another really important thing is setting appropriate boundaries early so things don't get sexual when those bonds form. If you have a young bird, it may seem sweet to stroke it and pet it under the wings etc, but this will create a monster and it's unfair to the bird. I mentioned it in my first post, but there were so many things mentioned there, that I am reiterating it here- pet on the head and neck only aside from what is required to prepare your bird for a vet visit (touches elsewhere should be quick and training-related only--for instance, teaching them to extend a wing for an exam). No shadowy huts, tents , under furniture etc (they sleep fine on the perch and will only be frustrated if you raise them with these and then remove them at sexual maturity, as cavity seeking is a nesting behavior). Pet on the head and neck only. Do not wrap in towels or allow under blankets (unless for medical reasons)...don't allow them in nooks or crannies, hampers, tubes, pots etc...

Cover the cage only at the exact point that it is time for lights-out (never partially cover during the day or to stop screaming). Lights off and cage covering should happen at the exact same time. Light cycles and sleep regulate almost everything about them (including health, hormones and subsequently, behavior). If you have blackout curtains and your bird has its own room for sleep, you may choose not to cover, but for larger species it has been my experience that covering + blackout curtains= generally better (as they are far less prone to night-frights, and if they do have them, still tend to cling to the perch). Some smaller birds need a night light IF prone to night frights, but that depends on the individual.

You will need a sleep schedule for your bird with roughly the same bed time and wake-up each day. 10 hours= most important, but the schedule should not vary within more than an hour or 2 each day (just like a toddler). In the wild, they wake up and go to bed at the same times daily.

With a full-sized macaw...it is almost certain that you will need a bird room for sleep etc (just because their cages are MASSIVE). Unless you have a ton of free-standing tree perches for the day (which must be made of only specific types of safe wood) then, you will likely need a second cage (one for sleep and one for the day).

Since sleep regulates immune health and hormones. it is super important that they have a place to sleep that is dark and fairly quiet. For a few years, I had to run my sleep schedule and visitor's schedules around Noodles because she didn't have her own room (which is something very very beneficial if you have a large bird and plan on being up later). White noise isn't so bothersome to them as long as it is consistent (like a washing machine or something), but walking past the cage, shuffling something, a sudden noise, loud talking etc WILL keep them up, even though they will often still sit quietly in their cage (it can also cause them to flap and break blood feathers if the cage is too small to accommodate toys + wing-span) ....So, quiet and covered doesn't count towards the 10 unless they are actually sleeping and that can be hard to achieve on human hours when you have your bird in the main space. That is why many people use a sleep cage, but I'm telling you now, for a full sized macaw, no sleep cage is going to accommodate their size and that long tail while still having safe gauging and bar spacing. There are some people who use cages designed for other animals. but those cages are rarely safe for parrots (especially those with super powerful beaks), as these guys are very sensitive to paint, zinc, lead, copper etc and can easily strip any coating (so, safe for a dog is generally not safe for a parrot). Additionally, the cages need to be elevated/on a stand, as they do not feel secure on the ground as prey animals.

The bird should be in the most active part of your home during the day, but in a quieter place at night.

 

[noodles123]

I know those big beaks can be intimidating, but they use them less than others. Birdman has some macaw threads.. I hope our other members will link them for you. I'm not great at that stuff.

I just wanted to note: while some use them less to bite, they are notorious for their bluffing stage, but and using their beaks in other ways (to a greater degree), which can cause a lot of fear in someone after they have been bitten once, and they do pick up on that. I guess my whole point is, if a macaw bites a kid or something, that's going to be a big deal and It's truly only experience and time that overcomes a human's instinct to not be fearful after a bite, but it's a catch 22 because birds sense our fear (no matter how good we think we are at acting) and then they often will bite more or bluff because they sense our discomfort and are nervous about it. You do not want to push a bird to bite, but a lot of people do so because they misread cues. Biting is always a last resort, BUT, with macaws, bluffing is practically par for the course...

 

[vdrandom]

Thank you noodles123 for this extremely important piece of advice. I had my doubts about it, but never explored the question of daily routine of a bird.

We've already discussed how to deal with it and came up with some surprisingly practical ideas. Who knows, maybe the bird will help us develop some daily routines of our own.

 

[vdrandom]

Thank you Laurasea and Gemster for your personal experiences. Even if they are about different species, it is always useful to know what kind of challange there can be ahead of us.

I've seen Birdman being mentioned a few times, but I couldn't find their profile. Hopefully someone knows their current username or knows where to find some of the threads.

I'll probably go and ask around in the Macaw related section of these forums for more details on species. If you have anything else to say please don't hesitate. Having as much information as early as possible is key to having a healthy companion and healthy relationship with it!

 

[Laurasea]

Yes different species, but the same issues lead to bites with all species, fear of hands, jealously, breeding season, cage protect, unexpected changes in routine, bumping new pins that are very sensitive.

 

[vdrandom]

My wife has reconsidered getting a Macaw, so for now Caique is going to be the species we'll be preparing for. Thank you all for your answers, experience, opinions and suggestions.

Looking forward to getting the bird next year and sharing our experience with you!

 

[Skarila]

Hello there! Jumping onto the thread.

Kind of glad to hear that you guys decided not to get a Macaw. Honestly budgies are extremely easy to take care. I have a tiny 52 gramm Emma's conure and they are already much more complex to take care of.... Honestly, macaws and cockatoos are the very last birds I'd ever have.

Also, regarding the one person birds - this also highly depends on how well the bird is socialized. For example, my partner's Senegal parrot (middle size parrot, they're little tanks) are known to be one person bird, Aina (the sennie) does adore my partner, he is her chosen one, but will gladly go and snuggle with his mum, or play and snuggle with me when I visit. I also thing with any bird there will be THAT person they prefere, but will accept all others. The bird might like certain actions to be shared with a certain person. They are very very cool birds, once they settle. But they are also very solitary birds, they don't like other species, not even their own kind.

Have you considered Quaker parrots maybe? They are super smart, very very playful and ultra snuggly. Bit loud, but if you already considered macaws I guess loudness wouldn't be an issue. They can learn quite a few words and talk really adorably. I adore conures, but quakers would be my 2nd bird to go. Big fluffy chunks of love!

 

[wrench13]

Bite pressure training, or rather "no bite" training. Big topic for a lot of parronts. One of the main ways is called shunning. It works much better if the parrot is bonded to your , even a little bit. Shunning is exactly what it sounds like. When receiving a bite ( and you are certain that it's not your fault) a forceful "No Bite" (not yelled) and immediately put the parrot on a neutral, handy place, like a chair back. NOT the cage - that only tells the bird that biting gets him put back into his cage, which he may want! Once on the chair back, turn your back to the parrot. NO eye contact, NO talking about or to him - they are smart enough to know if you do. Hold that for a minute or two - any longer and the lesson will be lost. If the parrot starts to get into something else while there, then your holding it too long. Turn again and re-engage with the parrot, keeping in mind the conditions that occurred just prior to the bite. This has to be IMMEDIATE and CONSISTENTLY done by all, or the lesson again will not stick. My little Amazon Salty started to get bitey just after he went thru puberty, and this method worked great.

Once learned this can really reduce the number of unwarranted bites, EXCEPT for when the parrot goes thru puberty or the annual mating season, when a lot of parrots just loose their S**T. Really. Its a time for being extra observant on the aforementioned communication signs out line by Laurasea " feather levels, tight to body, or slightly lifted, head level, wings tight to body, relaxed, wing shrugs, wing stretching, body posture, pupil size, tail flare, tail wags, flushing, neck feather flares even those without crests can raise neck feathers with displeasure, ritual body movements, stomping, banging beak". During those times they really have no control over themselves, and its very common to get a bite, and 2 seconds later the parrot is like "What the F was that???".

 

[vdrandom]

Thank you wrench13. I cannot even imagine how useful this advice will be once we start training our bird.

Honestly, I never expected to find such a warm welcome and so much good advice from a community I joined randomly on the Internet.

 

[noodles123]

Shunning though, ONLY works if you have a bond with that bird and they WANT YOU. If they bite because they don't like you are want you to leave, shunning is like handing them 100 bucks and saying, "you win!"

Shunning works on the idea that you are removing the thing they desire (favorite person) based on the undesired behavior (bite)-- like taking a favorite toy from a naughty child. Yes, it works,...unless they want they toy gone.....then it's a win and they will bite more to make other bad things go away...SO you absolutely MUST know what the purpose behind the bite was, or at least that the parrot really likes you before trying this.

A real-life example of failed shunning: "liitle Johnny" is in class and the teacher announces a pop quiz. "Johnny" kicks the kid next to him, stands on his desk and starts hooting like an owl. The teacher, seeing the reaction of the others, proclaims, "JOHNNY!- THAT IS ENOUGH! GO SIT IN THE HALL" -----Johnny just learned that by acting up, he can get out of situations he is trying to avoid by acting innappropriately, just as he suspected. The teacher thinks she has punished him, but instead, she increased the likelihood that the behavior will repeat and rewarded the behavior by giving him what he wanted (an escape from the situation).

ABA is what they use for people and birds and it works but it is a well-known practice in education and training ---it is also a mindset. Almost all behavior is driven by the desire for 1 of 4 things (sometimes in combination, but always with a primary-- it can be more than one and sometimes the person doing the behavior doesn't even know why, but you can figure it out by categorizing their responses in various situations)
Here are the 4 main reasons animals and humans in general do anything:
1. escape (from a person, situation, task or other)
2. tangibles (to get money, toys, a treat etc etc)
3. sensory (e.g., crying when hurt or scratching an itch)
4. attention (from peers, adults, flocks, mates etc ---via proximity, eye contact, a response of any kind...sometimes even yelling)

You know that a behavior is being reinforced by your reactions if the behavior increases. That means you are giving them one of those 4 things (whichever they desire) based on your reaction...Otherwise, it wouldn't increase...Now, any behavior is going to initially have some resistance when you stop reinforcing it..I am talking longer term though....Rather than guess and see long-term (which will only open more opportunities for them to learn new ways to manipulate) your best bet is ABC charting...Again will post more later but that stands for antecedent, behavior, consequence...and NO consequence is not a punishment, it is just what happens immediately after (whether or not you think it is good or bad)..literally, the thing that happens immediately after.

I will post more on this later, but this is why shunning can backfire if you use it on a bird seeking escape....It really only works for birds seeking YOUR attention.

 

[Kentuckienne]

This is Disco the parakeet, sadly departed this world. The video gives you some hint of what the right parakeet is capable of verbally. Others are easily taught tricks, and they can be very affectionate. They are a small parrot, not very loud (considering) and so need less expensive cages. A small parrot in a small cage can be easier to take with you when traveling - unless you wish to be confined to your home. You can’t really leave a parrot for a weekend or even overnight safely. I adore these little birds!

 

[vdrandom]

This is Disco the parakeet, sadly departed this world. The video gives you some hint of what the right parakeet is capable of verbally. Others are easily taught tricks, and they can be very affectionate. They are a small parrot, not very loud (considering) and so need less expensive cages. A small parrot in a small cage can be easier to take with you when traveling - unless you wish to be confined to your home. You can’t really leave a parrot for a weekend or even overnight safely. I adore these little birds!

Thank you for such a fun little video.

Budgies are the best. My wife was reminded of her cute little budgie, she loves budgies. Disco budgie in da house!

 

[vdrandom]

Shunning though, ONLY works if you have a bond with that bird and they WANT YOU. If they bite because they don't like you are want you to leave, shunning is like handing them 100 bucks and saying, "you win!"

Shunning works on the idea that you are removing the thing they desire (favorite person) based on the undesired behavior (bite)-- like taking a favorite toy from a naughty child. Yes, it works,...unless they want they toy gone.....then it's a win and they will bite more to make other bad things go away...SO you absolutely MUST know what the purpose behind the bite was, or at least that the parrot really likes you before trying this.

A real-life example of failed shunning: "liitle Johnny" is in class and the teacher announces a pop quiz. "Johnny" kicks the kid next to him, stands on his desk and starts hooting like an owl. The teacher, seeing the reaction of the others, proclaims, "JOHNNY!- THAT IS ENOUGH! GO SIT IN THE HALL" -----Johnny just learned that by acting up, he can get out of situations he is trying to avoid by acting innappropriately, just as he suspected. The teacher thinks she has punished him, but instead, she increased the likelihood that the behavior will repeat and rewarded the behavior by giving him what he wanted (an escape from the situation).

ABA is what they use for people and birds and it works but it is a well-known practice in education and training ---it is also a mindset. Almost all behavior is driven by the desire for 1 of 4 things (sometimes in combination, but always with a primary-- it can be more than one and sometimes the person doing the behavior doesn't even know why, but you can figure it out by categorizing their responses in various situations)
Here are the 4 main reasons animals and humans in general do anything:
1. escape (from a person, situation, task or other)
2. tangibles (to get money, toys, a treat etc etc)
3. sensory (e.g., crying when hurt or scratching an itch)
4. attention (from peers, adults, flocks, mates etc ---via proximity, eye contact, a response of any kind...sometimes even yelling)

You know that a behavior is being reinforced by your reactions if the behavior increases. That means you are giving them one of those 4 things (whichever they desire) based on your reaction...Otherwise, it wouldn't increase...Now, any behavior is going to initially have some resistance when you stop reinforcing it..I am talking longer term though....Rather than guess and see long-term (which will only open more opportunities for them to learn new ways to manipulate) your best bet is ABC charting...Again will post more later but that stands for antecedent, behavior, consequence...and NO consequence is not a punishment, it is just what happens immediately after (whether or not you think it is good or bad)..literally, the thing that happens immediately after.

I will post more on this later, but this is why shunning can backfire if you use it on a bird seeking escape....It really only works for birds seeking YOUR attention.

Thanks, obviously this tactic has to be used only when appropriate. I would imagine that establishing a bond is the first most important thing to do when getting a parrot. It obviously helps a lot in both training them for desirable behavior and getting rid of (or at least limiting) undesirable behavior.

 

[trishgal]

EDIT: After considering a lot of advice both here (thank you so very much!) and from breeders we decided to get a Caique.

Hey there, new member here.

My wife wants a mid sized parrot and I'm helping her to make a choice in terms of species. I'd like some advice if possible. I'll make a bullet list to make things easier. So here's what's given:

• I don't have any prior experience with birds, but my wife used to have a couple of budgies a few years ago.
• She knows how to handle animals and can be compassionate or strict when necessary. She used to train dogs and her parrots rather successfully.
• She wants a companion bird, that is clever enough to train, but calm enough as to not require too much attention constantly throughout the day. Some balance of playfulness and being fine with just chilling for some time would be great.
• She will be spending a lot of time with the bird since she rarely goes out. This means birds that want a lot of attention are okay.
• We will both be handling the parrot in one way or another, so "one-person" type of parrot would be a very bad idea.
• We also have a Maine Coon cat. Obviously, they won't interact without supervision. But it would be great to have a bird that could interact with a gentle cat without fear or aggression.
• We live in an apartment, so space is limited as is the amount of noise that can be tolerated. So loud birds are out of question as well as large birds that reqiure a lot of room to stretch their wings. Cage size is also limited.
• Speech is not a requirement. From what I can tell, many consider it important, but we don't.
• The price should be reasonable. I know it varies around the world, but in general, $1500 is the amount I aim for. $2000 max.

We've already done some research, but it's getting harder to find facts and opinions on some of the species we have on top of our list:

• Illiger's Macaw - looks like they're on the smaller side, can be playful but also like to chill with their flock. Not an awful lot of information on this species on youtube or forums.
• Military Macaw - from what I see online there are larger and smaller variations of this species?
• Hahn's Macaw - very little on this species online, the size seems perfect, but are they as much of a companion as previously mentioned species?
• Caique - they seem very fun, but also very energetic. Are they always as active as seen on hundreds of videos on youtube? I can imagine this can get very tiresome.

We've also considered Green Cheeked Conure, but my wife disliked the sounds they make very much.

I'd like to know more of the real experience of living with birds of these specific species as well as suggestions on other options.
Thank you so much in advance, at this point I'm very much lost.

I have a Maine Coon. I was given a Cockatoo. She rules me and my cat. I never allow them to be alone together, because Sugar will often push Rollo too far and he'll try to bat her away. He keeps his claws in, but I can't expect him not to accidentally leave them out. It would be super easy for him to hurt or kill her without meaning to.. You DEFINITELY don't want to get a Cockatoo. Their screeches could raise the dead and they need to be able to see everything around them, including outside, and never want to be left alone. Etc., etc., etc.

 

[rdc]

Hello. Welcome to the forum.

Your English is excellent.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned what I'm about to say, but It is important to have your bird examined at least annually--preferably by an experienced, avian vet.