You Want to Own a Bird?

I remember when I first thought of buying my bird. I looked into everything: every type of bird and what to expect. I looked into everything that was ideal for my lifestyle and the needs and necessities to make my bird's life happy and comfortable as well. I wanted a safe ground for both of us.

Every bird has their own unique personality, and I find most of that personality comes from you and how much you interact with your feathered friend. Let’s get started.

The Good

• My bird is my absolute best friend. He is incredibly friendly towards me, he loves cuddles and hiding in my clothes. He has these moves he does to indicate where he wants to get scratched. The moment I leave the room he flies over to me and can’t be left alone. He’s a lot like a child who needs constant attention. He’ll dance to videos I watch and try to talk over me when I speak to someone else. He is friendly with other people as well, but because of the way I raised him, he was always more of a one-person bird. He’ll allow himself to be held by strangers and talked to, but he doesn’t do scratches; he’s too cautious and anxious. The bond I have with him is like no other bond I’ve ever had with previous pets. I worry about him when I’m out for the night, and he gets so emotional when he sees me after a few hours. Some birds are incredibly friendly with everyone; it really depends on how much you let them interact with friends and other people and not only you.
• HE IS SMART! I can’t even start to explain how smart and somewhat sneaky he is just to get something he wants. He’ll climb curtains just to get to the other side of the room without me hearing him fly there. He’ll try to fly into my coffee cups because he badly loves the taste of pop. Not only that, but he will try to spark up conversation with just noises. Talking to my mom, he’ll fly over to my shoulder and squeak out "what you doing?" He imitates kissing noises to me when he wants to be let out. Some birds can actually have conversations with you and learn words and phrases to say at appropriate times in conversations. They are incredible animals.
• He is breathtaking, I honestly have my cellphone loaded with photos and videos of him, just being incredibly beautiful or just him being silly. I find birds incredibly elegant and beautiful regardless of the type.

BONUS: I clean his cage weekly, and it never ever smells! Have you tried cleaning cat litter? I have my sweater up to my nose. (I still love my cats.)

The Bad

• Birds can get bored easily if you don’t have the time for them. When birds are alone in a cage they tend to get stressed out and easily bored and depressed, which causes them to start plucking their feathers and/or start harming themselves. Most people recommend two birds, but I recommend what is best for you, and your time, because two birds are twice the work.
• Training and injuries. Birds fly. Birds are very easy to scare and to make nervous. At any loud out of place sound, my green cheek goes flying to his cage. (He knows better now.) Wing clipping is a big debate I’m not getting into. But whether you clip or not, there is still that chance your bird glides into something sharp/hard, or just generally may get stuck somewhere, or hit his face too hard on something. They are relatively fragile the smaller they are. Finding a local bird vet/exotic vet nearby is sometimes impossible. The nearest vet for my bird is about an hour away from me. They do become expensive.
• They can be incredibly loud. You think a dog next door barking is bad? Have a dog next door barking with your bird imitating him—three times louder. Birds are usually not the ideal apartment pet. They can screech when they want attention, or just simply screech when they’re mad at you. You have a handful of birds who are generally less noisy and more apartment-friendly, but even then I’d warn your basement and next door neighbor. Even my little green cheek conure sometimes has lung power fueled by police sirens.
• They do come up in price. Just getting the bird alone is costly. Things add up pretty quickly from there. New toys monthly to keep him intrigued and happy. Fresh fruits and veggies (I do, because I do), cage supplies, pellets, not to mention earlier vet bills. Just their diet is something to keep in mind; they can go through toys pretty quickly, too. So, a good toy/foraging supply wouldn’t hurt.
• Vacations may be hard unless you bring him with you; finding a bird sitter isn't always ideal, unless you have someone close whom both the bird and you are comfortable with.

This is really based on personal experience and general knowledge from owning my bird for two and a half years. I'm no expert, and strongly suggest to do research before buying a pet bird. They are not as easy to care for and require a lot of attention and one-on-one.