At least the ER staff got a good laugh

[KuariKaydrith]

I've only got one bird at the moment - a blue Pacific parrotlet that gets spoiled rotten. He's only itty bitty but he thinks he's the size of a much larger parrot, and has an attitude to match! Thankfully the worst he does when he bites is draw a bit of blood but it still smarts. The only time his cage door is closed is when there isn't anybody home or we're sleeping.

I used to have a white and blue budgie that was a rescue. Sadly she wasn't hand-tamed like my parrotlet is so letting her out of her cage didn't happen much, but I did make sure she had a huge cage so she could get enough exercise. She passed away due to a nasty respiratory infection I'm grateful that Napoleon (my parrotlet) didn't end up catching it.

I know a few people with parrotlets but most of them have no idea about them other than they look cute. These birds have a life expectancy of about 25 years and need more than just budgie food to survive on, and they need a chance to really stretch their wings (hence why Napoleon has pretty much free range of the house when there are people up and about).

I would consider a larger bird if I didn't live in an apartment with paper thin walls. Napoleon makes enough noise all on his own, but thankfully nobody complains about it. And I'm on the list with a couple of rescues for being willing to foster birds of all shapes and sizes, so there is always a chance I will end up with a larger bird anyway...as long as my landlord doesn't mind, of course!

[Nunavut Pants]

...He grabbed my arm to pull me over to him, but he wasn't quite aware of how strong his beak is...

I was wondering! I couldn't see how a break could happen; I could easily picture missing flesh or even smaller pieces (fingers, earlobes, etc.) but a broken arm! Wow.

[BeeMused]

As a kid we had a blue budgie, I loved that bird! As a small kid I could grab him, he wouldn't hurt me. As I got older he would nip me, but never hard. I've many fond memories of that crazy bird. He made it to the ripe age of 16.

[mathnerd]

I would consider a larger bird if I didn't live in an apartment with paper thin walls. Napoleon makes enough noise all on his own, but thankfully nobody complains about it. And I'm on the list with a couple of rescues for being willing to foster birds of all shapes and sizes, so there is always a chance I will end up with a larger bird anyway...as long as my landlord doesn't mind, of course!

Consider an Amazon. They don't tend to be screamers. For the most part they talk at conversational levels or mutter. Ours occasionally gets "loud", but Goofy's "loud" is still quieter than Leo (the senegal's) "moderate".

I'm loving all the bird stories! Thanks!

[Dreamstalker]

Too bad he doesn't get attention. I let mine out every morning and he spends the day climbing all over his cage or getting passed around to various people in the house.

When stepdad and mom were married, we used to let the senegal out all the time (I got used to seeing him/her on my bedpost or elsewhere in my room, I had a lot of interesting perches, hiding spots, and puzzles for a curious bird) and if a "new" human came over, s/he would run to me and stay on my person until they were properly introduced. The other birds loved everyone as long as they got attention.