Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!intercon!news
From: kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: INDOOR: Parrots, Which ones?
Message-ID: <270B9A9F.2DB2@intercon.com>
Date: 4 Oct 90 20:25:03 GMT
References: <2708CD21.13B4@intercon.com> <9720015@hpfcso.HP.COM> <4441@trantor.harris-atd.com> <2592@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>
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Reply-To: kdb@macaw.intercon.com (Kurt Baumann)
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In article <2592@lectroid.sw.stratus.com>, mm@lectroid.sw.stratus.com (Mike
Mahler) writes:
> In article <4441@trantor.harris-atd.com> trish@trantor.harris-atd.com (Trish Stuckey) writes:
> 
> >     So now I'm starting to look into the Macaws,  I've heard that
> >they are very affectionate and loving birds, they don't talk but
> >can handle being left alone.
> 
> 
> 	Who told you they don't talk?  They do.  They are
> 	also VERY loud when they want attention.
> 

Snicker, just what I was going to say.

We had a Greenwing in our front office for awhile.  Great bird.  Loved Pizza
and would ask for it LOTS and LOUDLY.  Sigh, his owner finally took him home.

The problem here is that you really haven't said too much about what you
are looking for.  Most birds make good pets.  They all have their good and
bad points.  Some are better in an apartment, some are better with lots of
room.

Africans, all of them can talk.  The Grey is almost like having a digital
sampler in the room with you.  They can sound so much like another human
that you will be answering them, only to find the bird laughing at you. 
The smaller ones are very quiet, but still talk up a storm.  Not as clearly
as the Grey, but still the do talk.  They are also very easy to keep in a
cage the same size as the one you have for your cockatiel.

Macaws, are lots of fun.  They have very outgoing personalities.  Don't NEED
to have attention like a Cockatoo, but they can develop some loud habits.
They tend to be a bit more "agressive" or pushy.  They will try to train
you.  They need a large cage, one in which they can at the least spread and
flap their wings while in it.

Cockatoos can be great birds.  But yes they do require a lot of attention
and will be very noisy about it if they don't get it.  On the other hand,
if you can get one and handfeed it, and can stick to a very strick time schedule
then they are managable.  The trick is that you have to spend strick time
frames with the bird.  Once they fall into a pattern just DON'T break it.

Amazons can be left alone, talk, are small.  They can be unpredictable, 
especially once they get into breeding mode.  If they precieve you as a mate
they will treat you like one.  Which can mean that no one can be in the room
with you while the bird is with you, and you can get bit.  But we have a
Yellow Nape that is quite the clown and loves to roll around on the floor
with a pencil.


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Kurt Baumann                       InterCon Systems Corporation
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