Last Updated on by Mitch Rezman
Darla S asks:
Can you suggest a few medium-sized parrot species for a 1st-time owner about to turn 60y?
I am interested in moderation (moderate affection, playfulness, independence, friendliness, and noise) ability to talk would be a plus.
I still work full time, and live alone in my own house.
I am a homebody, have had my own dog pack for the past 33 years, and have been grooming and boarding for the past 17yrs.
I am ready to leave the dog world and settle down with 1 companion parrot.
2 of my current 3 dogs are seniors.
My plan is to get a bird as soon as they pass on.
This will be my first and last bird so I would really like to get it right.
Do Parrots Make Good Pets For Seniors And More Pet Bird Care Answers
I have been researching for a year already and still don’t know what bird to get.
I want to make sure that I get a companion I will enjoy and can keep happy and well cared for as long as possible.
I have found a wealth of info on training, enrichment, diet and correcting behavior issues, but nothing past 2 paragraphs on the personality of most birds. I tried a bird discussion group but didn’t find it a positive experience.
Of the few pet stores I have visited, the info on bird personality has been contradictory.
I feel the African Grey and Cockatoos are a definite no.
Although I can’t stop thinking about the Galah.
Some of the Ringnecks have caught my eye also.
Most of my exposure to parrot personality has been YouTube.
Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, Darla great question,
The start at the macro level Ist.
A very good source of available birds is your veterinarian.
He or she might not be an avian vet but they network with other veterinarians in the area could possibly provide leads.
Facebook if you are on it has a lot of very engaged bird groups.
Some are species-specific and some are just general groups for the lover of birds.
On a more granular level, the first rule of thumb is “bigger bird – bigger brain – bigger noise- bigger poop”.
Because of your schedule regardless of the bird, you want a very large cage at the bird that can stretch out move around and while you are at work.
On one hand, you mention a Galah and then express your interest in ringneck.
One of the things to look at is do you want a long tail or short tail bird?
Ringnecks a longtail making them much longer than a short tail Galah even though the Galah is a bigger bird.
Scares many people mistakenly believe all macaws are big birds.
We’ve identified 43 species down to the noble macaw which is the size of a sun conure to put things in perspective.
Speaking of conures (which covers about 120 species) if you don’t want a lot of noise don’t get a conure.
All parrots including parakeets have the ability to talk.
That said there’s no guarantee any bird that comes home will be able to speak anything intelligible.
Although I’ve seen many male ringnecks both African and Indian turn out to have somewhat of a vocabulary.
Keto our rescue ringneck speaks about a dozen 15 words and phrases.
Which he repeats two dozen times a day.
We are crazy bird people so we have fun with.
Conversely, we just rescued a beautiful blue Quaker from a woman who had migraines and was about to “put the bird in the freezer” (or worse) if it didn’t shut up.
We were 6 miles away and I was there in 15 minutes.
Chili is not really a noisy bird which makes everything relative.
Last but not least if you have any bird rescues in the area start conversations with those folks.
The benefit to a bird rescue as you can see dozens of species all at once.
Why I Drove 800 Miles To Rescue An African Ringneck
It would be best that you get an older bird because of where you are in life and bird rescues are filled with them.
As you get closer let us know how your search is doing and shoot us some videos.
Best
MitchR
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