Just as there are differences with our personalities and where we come from, there are also differences between birds. The environment we are raised in and the attention, love and care we receive play a big part in all our lives. Positive feelings or negative behavior that we are exposed to daily, here we have who we are. Here we have who your bird is.

This newsletter will focus on four parrot species. Every so often, I will talk about four more and so on. In the near future, you will be able to download our new E-Books from our Read Your Bird Series. These books will address the Care, Personalities, Feeding, Bathing, Training, Behavior Problems, Socializing and more. Look for them coming soon to our site.

So let’s start with the most popular parrot:

Amazon Parrots come in a variety of sizes with different colors mostly on their head. These come in a close second to the Greys in their talking ability. They are smart birds and very outgoing. The smaller varieties such as the Spectacled, Lilac Crown and Red Head can talk well, but their larger cousins are the ones with big voices. The larger ones such as the Double Yellow Head and Yellow Nape can also be a handful. Some people call them unpredictable, but they are anything but that. You know when you are going to get bit. The eyes pinning and the tail fanning will let you know. Socializing well will help keep their sometimes aggressive nature under control. Don’t worry too much on the feather picking with Amazons. They rarely do. Noise can be a problem with owning an Amazon. Teaching a lot of talking will keep the screeching down and replace it with words. Amazons have a way about them when it comes to singing and laughing at the right moment to entertain you. And if you have a baby at the time you have an Amazon, there will be crying and laughter for many years. Be careful not to feed to fatty foods to them, especially the bigger guys. They can get overweight easily.

Caiques are known as the clowns of the bird world. I personally call them “wind up toys”. They are always on the go. There is the Black Head and the White Bellied (Apricot Head). They are not big talkers and not usually too loud, but they will entertain you with all that they do. You can rough house with them or treat them like a baby. They love all the attention you will give them. They can have a mean streak if they don’t like someone, so be careful and socialize them well with strangers. They will love you tremendously, but with that you need to keep the jealousy under control. For a little bird, they eat a lot. They love fruits and vegetables, people food and anything they can soak in their water. They love to play with toys, people, pets, or anything that moves. They are really cute with one another when they wrestle on the bottom of a cage. This is not a bird to buy and just keep in a cage, well none are. This is one that will crave the interaction with you.

Cockatiels are great friendly little buddies. These are great beginner birds for young kids that will be responsible to care for them or the elderly. Anyone will fall in love with them when they have them, but due to their non aggressive nature, they are very popular. They come in many colors to choose from and the males are usually the only ones that can talk or whistle a tune. The females usually just chirp but are just as friendly when hand raised as the males. They love to be with you and hang out. Noise is not usually a problem. Be careful as you introduce them to other pets since they can tend to be flighty as Budgies are, and pets sometimes want to give chase. My first Parrots were Cockatiels and my first breeding experience was with them also. They taught me a lot, especially that you could have such a great companion in a bird and love it so much.

Eclectus come in two basic colors. Green are all the males and Red are all the females. There are a few subspecies, but the common ones are the Soloman Island, Red Sided, Vos Marie and the Grand. The Solomans seem to be a bit more docile than their larger cousins. They can be very friendly but many times are more of a one person bird. Also socializing these guys well will help with that. These can all be loud even though generally they are not. Talking ability is good on both sexes and the more they talk the more they will use words rather than irritating noises. The females can be a bit feisty. In this species the one in control is always the female. They have a big drive to breed so I would discourage any nesting type boxes or cuddly things for them to nuzzle against. Don’t encourage them to hang out under the covers in bed or anything that will stimulate the sex drive. They can become feather pickers sometimes if they get too stimulated. Let them be birds and give them space. They do better when they are not spoiled rotten. They are also big fruit eaters.

Hopefully this gives you some general information on making a long term decision of owning these parrots that I am so passionate about. You will see soon, if not already, how much fun they are and how entertaining they can be as part of your life.