Best bird for a loving pet?(Michael please respond)

[Arshia]

If you want a bird with a dog-like personality, get a caique
From what I've read, they're jovial and like to get roughed up lol

You and I have similar "ideal aspects" lol - except for the talking bit, I really couldn't care less if I had a pet that couldn't speak. Is price a factor, or are you willing to pay a lot?

I'm not going to go through that "dissuading" stage that most bird owners seem to do, since that seems to have been done pretty well - by pretty much everyone who's posted.

So here is a list of candidates

-Eclectus (noise might be an issue)
-Pionus (a little expensive - at least, for a college student like myself)
-Lori (do you have time to clean the cage, ~once/week?)
-Green Cheek Conure (pineapple color mutation, if you find that they look drab - also, they're a little small - I noted you like the bigger parrots)
-Cockatiel (they're really mellow, and don't have that bird personality some people look for)
-Alexandrine, Sun/Jenday Conure, Quaker

I think your best bet will be a Caique (so playful), a pineapple GCC, or a Pionus. The latter 2 I've heard it would be hard to go wrong with - unless you're a first time bird owner. A pineapple GCC is also pretty affordable.
My last bullet, with the 4 parrots compiled are other possible candidates that I haven't really looked into.

But I'm no expert, so do your own googling - don't go solely by what I (or any other individual) has posted

[Nir]

arent caiques loud? they are beautiful birds though.

[dawnkyung]

I'll chime in with my 2c.

I find having a parrot to be one of the most rewarding and challenging things ever. I don't see anything wrong with doing species-specific research, especially when certain traits are experienced often in some birds and not others. So, here are my experiences with birds:

Growing up, we had canaries and cockatiels. My parents did the grunt work, I got to play. The tiels were fantastic, they loved attention but were also content to amuse themselves. They loved getting head scratches and our male picked up a few phrases.

When I moved out on my own, I brought my 21 year old tiel with me to college (we had adopted him at 12 years old). After he passed, I knew I wanted another bird - I read a lot about green cheeked conures and though to myself - they're of similar size. It probably won't be that much of a leap. Well, I sure as heck was wrong.

My GCC was a huge parrot in a teeny little body. Swaps nipped the crap out of me, never wanted to stay still, was always climbing all over everything - never content to just hang out. He learned tricks very easily and was just a total ham. As things progressed, I got it in my head that I wanted another GCC. I picked up Scarlett, a cinnamon GCC, for 200$ with a huge cage from a family who "didn't have time for her anymore" of off Craigslist.

Everything that I had read told me that GCC's were probably the quietest parrots and made wonderful apartment birds. At this time, I was sharing an apartment with a roommate. Scarlett proved everything that I'd read about GCC's to be incorrect. She was a total screecher and would scream for most of the day. She was very pretty, but not playful like Swaps. She would sit in one place and scream - seemingly for the sheer joy of it. Around this time, I was 22 years old - young and dumb. I wanted my life back. I wanted to go out with my friends, go on dates, have fun. I rehomed both Swaps and Scarlett when I stopped being home enough to properly care for them.

Fast forward 5 years. I got married, then separated from my ex husband. My ex wasn't a bird person, but I'd taken in two cockatiels, who fit into my life just fine. After the split, I rebelliously decided that I wanted to get my dream bird - an African grey. I went and picked out a weaning TAG baby, brought her home, and thought to myself - this bird is all mine. I didn't socialize her at all, and she turned into exactly what I wanted her to be - bonded to me, cuddly, and funny. Too bad again I wasn't thinking for the future! My TAG, having not been handled by people other than myself, couldn't stand my roommate or really anyone that I brought her into contact with. When I met my now current boyfriend, Sachi was miserable. When we were home, she was busy trying to get my attention. She developed a screaming problem and would randomly lash out at my boyfriend. It was clear that she wasn't happy, and it was MY FAULT. I didn't do right by her, I didn't socialize her, I WANTED her to love me and only me - and she was miserable!

Thankfully, a girlfriend of mine and Sachi amazingly hit it off and she ended up taking her home. As soon as she was away from me, she somehow stepped into a happy flock life with my friend and her family. To this day when I go visit her, she tries to reguritate for me and droops her wings. One thing to note - Sachi didn't start talking until this year - she's two years old.

My boyfriend and I are now the owners of a Yellow-Crowned Amazon. We are going to great lengths to make sure he is happy, healthy, well socialized, and gets enough attention. It's hard work. We alternate days getting up early to make sure he is up on time and to get his vegetable breakfast ready. We make sure he is out on his perch when we're available but also make sure that he's comfortable being in his cage. He knows how to play with toys and even says "Hello" even though he's only 5 months old. He's amazingly quiet - so far. We completely and totally expect to be bitten and are waiting patiently for him to realize that he has lungs and to start using them. I'm 29 now and we are committed 100% to this parrot, come kids, come moving into a different house, come screaming problem, come aggressive mating season behavior, come whatever. Unfortunately, I can't say the same of myself when i was 19, or 20, or even 25. Make sure you're ready for all of life's changes and ready to bring your parrot with you. Socialize it properly. Don't make the same mistakes I did with my past birds!

Read everything negative you can find about the type of parrot you're considering and ASSUME THE WORST. Imagine yourself with a bird that embodies everything negative you've read - if you think you can handle that - then go for it!

Sorry that was so long. I'm not proud of what I've done in the past when it comes to being a parrot-owner - and I hope that what I went through can help you make a decision.

[cmaygar]

arent caiques loud? they are beautiful birds though.

Their warning signals can be loud. Mine likes to vocalize quite a bit. Other than the warning signal sound, his other sounds aren't what I would consider to be loud. They may not be a good choice for an apartment. They're great birds though that are truly clowns that love to play and play and keep on playing all day long.