The Best List of Presidential Pet Birds

Last Updated on February 17, 2024 by Mitch Rezman

Almost all of the 46 presidents, from George Washington to President Joe Biden (2 Shepherds and recently a cat, or so we’re told) have had at least one pet. Information is sketchy so we tried to aggregate all the facts we could find about presidential pet bird ownership.

With Presidents James K. Polk and Donald Trump among the no-pets exceptions, animals have a long history in the White House.

George Washington (1789 -1791) had Polly the parrot which was actually Martha’s.

George was an impulse buyer because he got the parrot from a trading ship having come from the West Indies, and had stopped at Mount Vernon. George didn’t like the bird – apparently, the feeling was mutual and they kept a close eye on one another when in the same room.

More than a decade later he hired a carpenter to fix the cage of a bird no one can recall. His step-granddaughter Nelly had what people remember as a “green” parrot.

I don’t want to label Martha as a “collector” but history tells us that several parrots lived at the Mount Vernon estate. In 1802 two years after George’s death, a visitor to the estate noted that there were several species of parrots one of which was a cockatoo a very friendly cockatoo or so the story goes. Mrs. Washington died soon after the traveler’s visit.

James Madison (1809 -1817)

Dolly Madison owned a Macaw that outlived both of them. When British troops set fire to the presidential residence during the War of 1812, she heroically rescued the parrot as the fire was engulfing the White House.

Winston Churchill sitting at a glass table with 2 women & 5 parrots

President Roosevelt’s good friends and allies were quite fond of parrots.

Mrs. Madison would be seen entering a reception room with her macaw on her shoulder to help engage guests who were a bit introverted.

John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)

Louisa Adams, the wife of this president, known at the White House for her silkworms, also owned a parrot during her husband’s term.

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)

Pol the African Grey parrot had been bought as a gift for his wife Rachel. Unfortunately, Rachel died, and the President had to take care of Pol himself.

President Andrew Jackson with African grey parrot on left should The Best List of Presidential Pet Birds

Pol was taught to swear and scream curse words at his funeral. The African Grey had to be ejected from the funeral ceremony when he started cursing in both English and Spanish, all learned from the president!

Zachary Taylor: (1849–1850)

Had a canary Named Johnny Ty Not to be confused with the Zachary Taylor American who was the first baseman in the National Baseball Association for the 1874 Baltimore Canaries?

James Buchanan (1857–1861)

He had a terrible presidency but owned a cool pair of bald eagles given to him as gifts to somehow make up for his lack of a wife (he had an elephant too – must have been a Republican).

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877)

We only have historical references that he owned a parrot as well as other pets.

Thomas Jefferson thought of Mockingbirds as “superior beings in the form of a bird.”

Thomas Jefferson and his Mockingbird

Rutherford B. Hayes (1877 – 1881)

Hayes had four Canaries with clipped wings (and a Mockingbird). It’s said one of the canaries regularly spent time between one of his cat’s paws (in a good way).

Abraham Lincoln (March 1861 – 1865)

Mr. Lincoln was well known for his fondness of animals and would rescue them regularly.

Here’s one account: “Oh,” said he, “when I saw him last” (there had been a severe wind storm), “He (Lincoln) had caught two little birds in his hand, which the wind had blown from their nest, and he was hunting for the nest”.

He finally found the nest, and placed the birds, to use his own words, “in the home provided for them by their mother”. When he came up to the party they laughed at him. Said he, earnestly, “I could not have slept tonight if I had not given those two little birds to their mother”, Kenneth A. Bernard, Glimpses of Lincoln in the White House, Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, December 1952, p. 168.

Thomas Jefferson (1891 – 1809)

Had a Mockingbird (now the Texas state bird) he bought for five shillings from one of the slaves of his father-in-law John Wayles.

In 1803 Jefferson paid $10 and $15 which was the going rate for the price of the “singing Mockingbirds”. The person he bought them from said the birds knew American, Scottish, and French tunes and could imitate all the birds of the woods.

He took one of them to France where the bird learned more sounds that added to his American repertoire. Because the trip to Europe trip took a month the bird learned to imitate the creaking of the ship’s timbers.

Thomas Jefferson thought of Mockingbirds as “superior beings in the form of a bird.” He had several pet Mockingbirds, but his favorite was named “Dick,” a somewhat under whelming name when compared to the names of his horses and dogs (Cucullin, Fingal, Bergere, Armandy, etc). TJ cherished Dick “with a peculiar fondness,” and the bird returned his affection.

Dick often flew freely around the room and would perch on Jefferson’s shoulder to eat bits of food from his lips. When it was time for the afternoon siesta, Dick would hop up the stairs to Jefferson’s bed chamber and sing him to sleep. (Monticello.org)

Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)

Had a parrot – not much else is known

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 and 1893-1897)

Had several canaries and mockingbirds belonging to Mrs. Frances Cleveland

William McKinley (1897–1901)

Had a Double Yellow Headed Amazon parrot named “Washington Post” who would finish whistling the songs McKinley started whistling like Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Never seen one of Teddy Roosevelt so young. Here's Theodore Roosevelt & "Eli Yale

Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

with his macaw Eli in the White House Conservatory

Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)

The Teddy Roosevelt-era White House was crawling with pets, including roosters and parrots.

Once the president wrote to Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus stories, that he wasn’t so keen on his son Ted’s pet macaw a Hyacinth named Eli Yale “Eli is the most gorgeous macaw, with a bill that I think could bite through boilerplate, who crawls all over Ted, and whom I view with dark suspicion.”

Warren Harding (1921–23)

Had a Canary named Bob.

I would be remiss in not mentioning Pres. Roosevelt’s great friend and ally Winston Churchill not only helped end World War II but was a lover and companion to a number of parrots.

Regrettably, none of this has been substantiated. The claims that he had a macaw named Charlie that lived to be 114 have been rejected by the Churchill estate although the bird was very good at spewing anti-Nazi epitaphs.

Lady Soams, Churchill’s daughter does acknowledge that Churchill did have an African gray for about three years which was sold when the family left Chartwell at the start of the war to move to London before her father became England’s Prime Minister.