How did you pick out your bird?

[AlbertaAviary]

What made you decide to get that type of parrot, and how did you pick him or her out?

Being a bird obsessed fourteen yer old without much money, I knew a budgie was my best bet. I did lot's andlot's of research before I brought Yoshi home and I watched countless budgie videos. I went to a pet store to pick up a budgie. I wanted a blue one, then a yellow one, but then I saw Yoshi. He is a bright green color with black spotted wings and a round yellow head. Oh yeah, he was the one!

I wnted a second budgie so we went to the pet store a month later. I heard that you should get budgies of the opposite sex or they'll fight. Cocoa was the only obvious female but I knew she was what I wanted. She was fluffy and looked cuddly. Mind you, it was night time and the birds were all sleepy.

So I pretty much picked my birds by their looks. But man, I got the best budgies in the world<3

[pennyandrocky]

my first was an that i inherited from my grandmother.the second was a that a guy gave me.my third was a that a woman was giving away,she hated me so i gave her to my aunt who she bonded with at my house.then i got a penny who i still have.when my died my boyfriend bought me another he was not happy with us so i surrendered him to a rescue where i then adopted mya she had been caged with another bird so i thought she would make a good companion for penny.he loves her but she won't have anything to do with him.

[marie83]

All mine have found me really, the majority are rescues that have come into my life rather than me going looking for. I took one of my 'tiels from an aviary to hand raise as her parents stopped looking after her, again that really wasn't a choice.
Ollie is the only bird I have deliberately got, we had the choice out of two clutches and even then it wasn't really a choice- he chose us lol.

[Polarn]

Growing up there were s and s Greys at moms place and toos at dads (divorced parents) even though both are bird freaks I never really had birds myself as a kid I was content with the ones around. Well we had a small birds rescue aviary where I had a couple I called my own, but spent way more time around the bigger tame ones.

As an adult when it was time to get a bird of my own I was first set on a macaw but felt that I don't have the roof hight or room to keep one 230cm roof hight would prefer 3meters for a macaw tbh. Also I got slanting roof along the outer walls... Anyways, I've always liked amazons and my father always teased me about it couse their all green, well guess what a cockatoo is all white in that case... So I went to a breeder I know who keeps parent raised in lipped and in big aviarys, so basically blank pages with good flight abilities... Short after I got the bluefronted amazon I took in a budgie and a cockatiel who had been caged together, they were given to me couse I thought I could give em more time and especially allow more flight. All three of them occationally hang out usually on different branches but always somewhat close to each others. In the beginning I was really worried still am to some extent but some time has past and they still make room for each others. The latest and probably last addition to the flock, atleast for some time... Is a 5year old galah girl who has been in a too small cage together with a male and expected to breed, she is still in quarantine and still somewhat frighten but she's getting better and better. But she looked as if she was gonna pass any second when I picked her up so I immidietlu took her to the vet for a checkup and to get some nutrition into her system through IV. And right after the vet using she begun eating and drinking on her own. Prior she wouldn't even try to move away when you grabbed her out of the cage or carrier because she was too weak. Since the amazon was the only one I really picked out... Well he was the most active one. I had the choice of a couple different species including the Cuba amazons (wich are quite rare here) but I fell for this bluefronted who was playing around all over the place, and still does.

[Grey_Moon]

Jay and I found each other when we needed each other, she saved me and I saved her.

I was 14 and my dad decided he wanted 'a cool talking bird' and it so happens this low-life he works with and his crazy wife had said 'cool talking bird'. She didn't talk, she plucked and was terrified---but you know--'she was an african grey'.

I met her a smoky dirty dark basement and we bonded there and then. I knew I wasn't going to leave her there and slowly we helped each other.
When I was 18 I fled my father's house and put everything I had in two garbage bags and grabbed Jay, put her in her carrier and ran while he and my step-mom were out of the house. Technically she was his and not mine, but she was my baby and I would've died to protect her---so I bird-napped her. He always said he'd never let me have her (just to hurt me, not because he loved her)---but I'm stubborn .
I ended up living with my long-estranged mother in a tiny shack where she'd drifted back to our ancestral native community. Jacko lived on top of the fridge on a makeshift playstand and slept by my bed.

For the next for years I bounced around sleeping on couches of estranged/extended family members and friends. Right now we're living with my ex-boyfriend and his family. Neither of us has had the perfect conditions, but we've kept each other from losing it. Her cage is slowly getting bigger, and prettier and she slowly has more of the things a 'well-cared for parrot' should have.

A lot of people don't understand why I have the bond I do 'with a bird' or why I treat her like a person. But she's been my sister in war so to speak. We've been through hell--but we're still here and every day we get a little better and a little closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.

[LPolliard]

Chico picked me. He is a man lover.

My daughter and my ex have been involved in a rescue program for a numbered of years. Over time they had collected a number of parrots through this program as well as caring for their two personal birds. I had interactions on occasssion with Chico. I always thought that Ekkies were very beautiful. On my visits he would come climbing down from his perch and scamper up to me seeking attention. Chico was a part of their flock for five years. When they decided to relocate back East (job related) mom decided to reduce the flock. He was offered to me as I had expressed interest in Chico. I was happy to accept.