- Hey everyone, JamieLeigh from Bird Tricks here,
I have been getting bombarded with this single question
of what bird do I recommend?
What is a great starter bird?
What bird should I get if I have no experience with parrots?
(chicken clucks)
What is a good first bird?
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And then people will usually follow it up with
I want a Macaw, or I want a big bird,
I don't want a small bird, I don't want a budgie,
I don't want a parakeet from the pet shop.
How about an Amazon or an African gray, which one?
Guys, I might get a lot of hate for this video,
but I gotta say,
- What? - Oh no!
- In case you think I'm not going to recommend
any type of bird, you're wrong.
Guys, I make an entire YouTube channel,
I have an entire website,
a zillion different parrot training courses,
on how to fix your relationship with your bird
because birds are a very difficult pet.
In fact, they probably shouldn't be pets.
(gasp)
Why?
They are the third most popular pet in the world,
but guess which one of those types of animals
is the number one most re-homed, these guys.
So when you guys say how 'bout an Amazon or an African gray,
go visit your local bird sanctuary
and look at how many Amazon and African gray parrots
there are in those sanctuaries.
I could name three sanctuaries off the top of my head
that specialize in Amazon parrots or African grays.
Project Perry is one of them that does an amazing job
with African gray parrots.
These guys are re-homed because they're incredibly hard.
They outlive us, they're incredibly intelligent,
which plays into why they're so incredibly hard to keep.
Most people don't understand what you need to do
for diet and behavior issues.
Many of these parrots become bonded to one person,
and it ends up making your entire household chaos
because this bird attacks everyone else
in the house but you.
Most people don't understand how
messy they are when they eat and just in general,
and how allergic people can be to them.
- [Man] Hey, what's with the allergies?
- They need to bathe every single day
to keep that dander or dust down.
They should be getting a fresh food diet in the morning,
followed by a very high quality pellet in the evening,
and then those fruits and nuts and seeds
are reserved for training.
A little bit different with the smaller birds,
because they need a little bit more seed than these guys.
Do you know what other type of species really
rules the roost in sanctuaries and rescues, is cockatoos.
Cockatoos are the top bird for the hardest
to teach people about because their body language
can be a lot more subtle, and because of that,
it's a lot harder to read and even that much harder
to explain to somebody else.
Cockatoos, I feel like belong in homes
with advanced parrot knowledge.
Sometimes I feel under qualified to have a cockatoo,
and I just have galahs, so I don't even consider
myself as having the hardest type of cockatoos,
which to me would be the Moluccans and the Umbrellas.
Umbrellas are at the top for me.
So here's a great starter bird for you.
If you are considering getting a parrot because you
have just been turned on to them for whatever reason.
Consider your age and the age of your bird,
and where you're at in your life.
Are you a kid who lives at home with your parents
and are begging for a bird,
but you're actually maybe gonna go off to college?
You're gonna maybe meet somebody
in the future and move in with them?
You maybe want kids, or you wanna travel?
A parrot might not be right for you right now
because your life is gonna change so much,
and you're gonna go through all these different things
of your priorities being all over the place
that you have to think about how that is going to affect
this type of bird or any type of bird,
because they're very sensitive creatures.
And although you can raise them in a crazy environment,
because my life is a crazy environment,
and we raised all of our birds on the road,
I can't take in a rescue bird and make it fit into my life
because the stress would cause health issues for that bird.
I've tried it, so I know for sure.
My best advice to you if you truly want a bird
is to one, pet sit for a friend or a family member
who already has a bird, thing,
are you gonna go to the bathroom?
Come here.
Teach it something, right?
So that you know what it takes to communicate
with this type of animal.
Another suggestion, if you still want a bird
after pet sitting or you don't know anybody with a bird,
that just isn't an option for you,
go to your local rescue or sanctuary
and volunteer your time for a week.
Doesn't have to be a week straight,
and get to know the birds and how different species act.
See and experience what being around birds is all about.
See if you can handle the noise.
(parrots screeching)
See if you can handle the mess.
See if you want to invite those qualities into your home.
Did I mention the noise?
(parrots screeching)
Even those small birds might seem like the sound
gets smaller and smaller and smaller?
That's really not the case when you think about sun conures.
Holy moly sun conures, so loud.
Some of the problems that I've personally had
is I lived in Florida for six years
and never had an issue with our neighbors of having parrots,
and I kept them outside 24 seven, year round.
It was fantastic.
I move up to northern Idaho where nobody has parrots,
that's what it feels like, anyway,
and my neighbors complain over the dove noises,
because I also have doves.
If you don't know what sound a dove makes,
it makes a very soft cooing sound.
(dove cooing)
If you have a neighbor that's annoyed by that,
needless to say if anybody knows of some property
in Florida for sale, hit me up.
In case you think I'm not going to recommend
any type of bird, you're wrong.
I'm going to, I promise.
But first I want you to understand all the things
that totally suck about having a bird.
There are some awesome things,
but I will say they're not a pet for most people.
Noise, noise is probably the worst.
Just like dogs bark, you can train them not to scream,
however it is a natural thing for them to do.
It's how they communicate.
So if you can't stand it at all,
probably not the pet for you.
Two, super messy, they're used to living in trees
where they can just drop stuff
they don't need and it goes away
into the universe and the Earth below.
So they're just conditioned to drop stuff,
fling stuff, wipe their beaks on things,
tear stuff up, chew on crown molding,
rip cables, destroy, destroy, destroy.
So you're gonna buy these really expensive bird toys
and you're gonna put them in the cage
and you're gonna think they're so pretty
because you picked them 'cause they're colorful and cute,
and then your bird's gonna destroy it
and make it into toothpicks and you're gonna be like,
"There goes 70 bucks, now what?".
Now you learn how to make your own bird toys.
Guys you gotta know this,
I especially say this because I sell bird toys,
it's a good thing if your bird is destroying them.
The faster your bird destroys them, the better!
The healthier that means your bird is, the more active.
It's using its beak and trimming it down, that's kinda nice.
The other thing that really sucks about bird
is behavioral problems.
Behavioral problem can be really, really difficult
to analyze and figure out why.
Why does this bird hate that person but not that person?
Why did it bite me randomly?
Figuring out and analyzing bird behavior is complicated.
Lucky for you, I offer consultations.
(crowd cheering)
Or you could just live vicariously through
some Youtubers that have birds and watch from afar,
which I highly recommend.
Number, what am I on, three, 43?
They're expensive, they can't have certain types of metals,
so stainless steel is the way to go, and the most expensive.
An outdoor aviary, I believe is a necessity.
Even if you live in a place like Idaho
where they can't be out year round.
Whatever amount they can be out, strive for that.
The sunlight is so, so important for them.
There's all sorts of training you can do with a bird
to incorporate it into your daily life.
You can harness train so you can take it
everywhere with you.
We always advocate exposing your bird
to new people, places, and things as often as possible
to make a more well adjusted, better adaptable bird.
Think beyond yourself, birds are likely to outlive us,
so think how can I make this set up for success
for somebody else who might take my bird down the line?
Okay, so which birds do I recommend?
I wouldn't say I recommend them,
but I will tell you which birds have the fewest amount
of behavioral problems naturally
and are found the least in rescues and sanctuaries.
If you go to a parrot rescue and sanctuary,
you will most likely see a cockatoo,
an Amazon parrot, and an African gray.
It's a given.
Not to say macaws don't make it in the mix too,
because I do see macaws in rescues and sanctuaries,
but I would say the top are cockatoos,
Amazons, and African grays.
So no, I'm not going to recommend
any of those in this video.
However, the birds found least in rescues and sanctuaries
or on Craigslist, or just given up in general,
though there are few exceptions,
but you will find them the least,
are kayeeks, pionus parrots, and senegal parrots.
I think they are a great size bird.
Not because of their body size, because of their beak size.
That's also why I like galahs,
'cause in relation to other cockatoos,
their beak is the smallest, which is nice.
I find that when people get excited about birds
and then they just jump in to getting one,
they can easily get very intimidated by
an Amazon or a macaw or a cockatoo
because once you get bit you get very scared,
and you start thinking oh man,
that could have taken my finger off.
I feel like if you guys get a cockatoo,
you should get like, a matching helmet when you get it.
That should prepare you for how bad it could be.
Cockatoos are known for dive bombing,
for those of you that are not aware.
So those three types of birds,
I've seen a lot of success with in family households.
They tend to be birds that aren't as likely to bond
to just one person, they're more open to a family dynamic.
They're very playful birds,
so everybody can have fun with them,
including children usually who aren't
as intimidated to work with them.
They are just as capable of doing all the things
that people usually look for.
Can it talk, can it do tricks, can it fly,
can it talk, can it talk, can it talk?
Yes, they're just a great species naturally, for people.
So those are the species I would,
if I was going to recommend any type of parrot,
those would be at the top of my list.
I don't have any of those.
Not because they aren't awesome,
but because it took me this long to figure out
the information I'm giving you guys.
Do I love other types of species of birds?
Yes, I especially love macaws.
I love to free fly macaws, they're the safest,
because they are the largest, because they are the loudest,
because it's most unlikely that a predator
is gonna look at a macaw and be like,
"Yeah, it might be worth it to get hurt
"if I go after whatever the heck that is".
Not as likely, not to say it doesn't happen, not as likely.
A predator bird usually thinks through
could I get hurt during this attack,
and would it be worth it?
So a small bird could do very little damage to a hawk.
And because a lot of my lifestyle with my birds
is free flight, that plays a big role in my decision.
If that's not in the cards for you,
then that part doesn't really matter.
For me personally, I'm happy with indoor flighted birds.
Take your bird to a gymnasium.
Take it to a ballroom in a hotel.
Take it to a big open room at a church that you go to.
All those places are great, even a batting cage,
with the proper netting for the size bird that you have.
I'm a huge advocate for indoor flight,
and it's much easier to accomplish that
with a small to medium sized bird,
such as a kayeek, a pionus, or a senegal.
So here's the thing, I am a bird trainer,
I am a parrot trainer,
I work with people consistently on training parrots,
yet I don't recommend them as pets, I know,
and it's because I see how much people struggle.
I see how unprepared they were,
maybe they inherited the bird and then they feel guilty,
and they feel this sense of obligation to hang on to it.
I just feel like if people understood or had a
better understanding of what they were getting into,
they would know whether or not
to actually make that commitment.
That's why I recommend going and spending your time
at a bird rescue or a sanctuary,
spending your time around birds.
Birds that end up in sanctuaries,
it isn't always like this bird was so awful and unhandleable
that it ended up being relinquished to a rescue.
Sometimes, sadly, owners die and there's
nowhere else to put the bird.
Sometimes they're great birds there.
They're not always just locked,
or have behavior issues, or screamers,
or breeding birds, or anything like that.
Sometimes you can find amazing birds at rescues.
Other times there's a lot of work to be done,
because there's a lot of damage that has
already been had that needs undoing.
Would you like some petting?
I'm totally talking smack about birds and you're right here,
proving that you're awesome.
So I just recommend that you spend as much time
around them as possible to really have a grasp
on what you're getting into.
Because there's nothing worse than having no idea
what you're getting into, getting into it,
and regretting the decision.
I just wanna help people make an educated decision,
and I think that's best done with experience.
So get as much experience around birds as possible,
so that you can say for sure, 100%,
this is where I wanna go.
And if that is the case,
when you spend time in rescues and sanctuaries,
usually the bird ends up picking you,
and it's most likely gonna be a cockatoo,
an Amazon, or an African gray.
Just please do your research, understand those species.
Understand what they're prone to.
Understand that male Amazons are incredibly difficult
during the hormonal season, and some of the scariest.
Understand that it's the same way for the male cockatoos.
Understand the noise level and commitment that you're giving
to each and every one of those species of birds,
so that you know what you're getting into.
The thing that drives me crazy is when you meet a bird
that you fall in love with,
and then you go out and buy that type of,
that species of bird, thinking that you're buying that
Cressi, or you're buying that Bondi or Bandit.
You might have only seen the really really good side
of that bird and not understand
when the going gets tough just how tough it is.
And you need to be willing to work through those things.
So please understand the commitment level,
please understand these birds live longer than us.
They require a ton of work, a ton of care,
and don't just jump into it and make a rash decision.
Please do your research, get your experience,
spend your time.
Don't let Cressi fool you about how awesome
she's being during this whole video.
(laughs)
I'm just kidding, she is awesome,
and I love birds, but even I would have done things
differently if I would have known
and had the proper experience.
In conclusion, don't get a bird.
You wanna wave bye to everybody?
Bye!
Good girl, Cressi.