Hi from a new soon to be owner

Hello, Good luck with your quest, and I hope you find the right bird for both you and your wife.
Just to help with another case history - we have a Senegal that we have had since she was about 8 months old - found in the pet section of a garden centre in a floor standing cage (just the right height for kiddies fingers to poke at her etc) When we brought her home she was immediately happy with my husband but took about 4 months to be comfortable with me (oh the tears of frustration at trying to bond and get her to step up!)
He was retired but I was still working and so at that point we shared her care as much as possible, we are now both retired and she is now bonded fairly equally with both of us (but we in the long drawn out process of relocating so she has either him or me and sometimes both).
She rarely bites my husband, but I usually bear a few nip marks to my hands as Im usually the one to be holding whatever it is SHE wants. However, as far as I can tell she is NOT a typical Senegal. She can be flighty but usually is quite calm, generally well behaved and doesnt destroy much, she doesnt play all that much either. She chatters and if she cant see us she will whistle and shout but in general is not very noisy. I think most of this is because she spends almost all of her time with one of us, carefully observing (and commenting) on what we are doing and so we have learnt her body language and she gets our full attention most of the time.
 
I can only say for my Chorley, he is 7 or 8 years old. He loves to be on my head, yep, sitting on my head or my granddaughters. He does prefer women but my husband has just not bothered with him, he works long hours and is away from home an awful lot, he does accept food from him. Chorley is the least biter or nipper of my flock, does have off times when I just leave him alone. He used to happily climb onto my hand but since I had to towel him in an emergency he will not do that now, good memory. He much prefers to be in with people as opposed the other birds, even if doing nothing.

Why do I call him a clown? not sure he just is. Calls himself Chorley, Chorley, uck, uck (Chorley chuck, chuck), mimics the other birds and constantly saying 'ouch' copied from me being hit by the cage door, perches, etc. Really hard to explain.

Can not send any pictures due to each one being too big? Would have showed how daft he can be.
 
I am sorry I do not know that area, out of the amazons they are the most common in captivity in this country, they are not to hard to come by from breeders and they are not to expensive. is there any parrot shows you can visit, I see more around march and April time
 
Tip,,,,,, if you look into there eyes they may get you to buy them parrots are cunning little fellows, you may end up buying the lot Ha Ha, Alan I bought for £30 pounds but he was disabled but the chap who had him had others that he was selling and offered me them for £170 although he was a breeder they was still quite young but weened
 
All amazons can be very noisy. Make sure you hear one performing its morning or evening squawking before buying! I personally like Amazon calls but you might not. On the plus side they tend to be more hardy and resilient than African greys, for example. I recently visited a zoo in Norfolk that has a lovely flick of orange wings. They looked wonderful but the noise was something else!
 
I have had males and females, I have found the most curious are the males, View attachment 28460IMG_0613.JPG
top photo is Charlie the Bottom is Conker the female, you will notice the long nails this was the day she arrived at my place, She allows me to keep them trimmed although she rather I did not but she has never bit me and not quite as close as Charlie is to me she is still lovely
 
I disagree, yes you can come across an OW like that I think that DizzyBlues bird is not so friendly. but as far as the amazon family go they are by far normally a very stable bird, I have had five in my time and worked with a flock of 12 birds together, never been attacked by one yet, yes they do have there favourites, Charlies number one is my ringneck Dobie, his no two is Conker, I am his number three and he accepts all my visitors. Conker is a little bit shy of new people but she is also sweet and nice, her no one is Charlie, then Bella a yellow ringneck I am third again. yes they have there favorits but they are not the type of bird that will go out there way to attack others, noise and calling can be trained out of them. I doubt if any of the people in the pet shop have had one in there home.
 
A Amazon or grey can kick out some serious noise and it can drive people nuts over time, my two are fairly quiet and when they are noisy they make funny noises or shout words, whistle songs etc so it's quite amusing but it can be loud if your in the same room and they are on one. Some parrots dont mimic and just squwark and scream which can be a grinding noise on you and the family over time. Parrots are absolutely full of character and so so different in noise temperament mood etc etc. The amazons and greys are fairly big birds and both very smart it's fair to say most birds have a favourite and will tolerate others family members but not let them touch them and some birds are very excepting of other family members but I feel that's less common. Pet shops are not always the best place for views on parrots as they are normally bord stiff, not let out and make excessive noise because of this, yes a screaming parrot in a shop when your trying to talk to a customer or on the phone would put anyone off them lol, smaller tweety birds are easier to care for and less penetrating noise to have in a shop. I visited one of the parrot rescue sanctuaries and met lots of birds it's such a good way to get a feel for a bird and also get to grips with the noise and you will click with the right bird. Weather you buy a baby one or re home a older bird they are all rewarding with time and love and can be brilliant fun. I still side with the OWA being the more excepting bird over a grey, your doing the right thing researching and asking questions it's a big commitment having a noisy parrot in your house lol.
 
Well said Scott sounds like you got the jist of it, get a feel for what birds you like at the show then you can narrow it down and commit to finding the right one. Go straight in and get the parrot you want dont be fooled to get something that statistically looks easier to keep etc etc as at the end of the day you will wish you got the parrot you wanted and dreamed of having.
 
I am sorry to hear they do not recommend an amazon as a first bird, to me any bird can be a first bird, if you go for a budgie it dose not prepare you for a bigger parrot, you will need to find out as much information as possible about any bird you take on, my first bird was a snowy Owl called Tango
 
I do like the amazons they mostly tick the boxes obviously as above it's a bit luck of the draw to. I had a kak parrot which was a tad bigger than a budgie and he was the most savage bird I have ever been around lol. I do agree with Michael having a budgie is not the same as having a big parrot and the most important and valuable thing is to research prepare and ask questions, we are all here to help and advise.
 
Well thats a shame - As I said before our Senegal is possibly more tolerant than many but she is great at swapping freely between me and my husband as her carer (we are in a drawn out transitional period of moving from the UK so she has had to endure long periods with only one or the other of us).
I am sure you will know when you find your bird (or rather when they find you).
 
Good for you. Finding out all you can in advance is the way to go. Anyway, as you know, there is no perfect species, but at some point you'll find an individual bird that you feel most comfortable with. Conures are fun and full of character - like tiny macaws.
 
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