Birds

25 species listed on Pet Listings.

25 pages written

A

African GreyThe parrot most studied for intelligence, and the one that uses words in context rather than only copying them. Fifty years is a normal life for one.

Amazon ParrotGreen, stocky and loud: an Amazon at full volume carries through a house and out of it. Strong talkers, and they live for decades.

Australian ParrotThe group that gave the world the budgie and the cockatiel, most of it out of dry inland country. Flock birds that call to keep the flock together.

B

BudgiesThe most kept parrot on earth, and a true parrot despite the size. The record for the largest vocabulary of any bird belongs to a budgie, not to a grey.

C

CaiqueBuilt like a small clown and behaves like one: caiques hop rather than walk and play until they drop. From the Amazon, and loud for the size.

CanariesOnly the males sing, and they were bred for that song over four hundred years. A canary is a bird to listen to rather than one to handle.

CockatielThe crest is a mood gauge: straight up is alarm, flat back is anger, and relaxed sits halfway between. Australian, and the males are the whistlers.

CockatoosThe crest goes up with every strong feeling, and so does the volume: cockatoos are among the loudest birds kept. They bond hard and they live for decades.

ConuresSmall parrots with a big bird's voice, though the green cheek is quieter than the rest. Playful, and they sleep on their backs, which alarms new owners.

D

DovesGentle and quiet next to a parrot, and the cooing is most of what you hear. Doves pair up, and both parents feed the young on crop milk.

DucksDucklings imprint on whatever raises them in the first days and follow it afterwards. They need water deep enough to bathe in, not only to drink.

E

Eclectus ParrotThe male is green and the female is red, and for a century the two were catalogued as separate species. Quiet for a parrot, and a fruit eater above all.

F

FinchesAn aviary bird rather than a hand tame one: finches are for watching, and they do everything in company. Most of the song belongs to the males.

G

Gouldian FinchAustralian, and coloured like nothing else in the finch world. The head comes in black, red or yellow, and the colour is inherited rather than acquired.

I

Indian RingneckThe ring appears only on the males, and not until around their third year. Clear talkers, and among the parrots most likely to pick up a whole sentence.

L

LovebirdsSmall African parrots that pair strongly, which is where the name comes from. Some species tuck strips of nest material into their rump feathers to carry it.

M

MacawsThe largest parrots there are, and wider wingtip to wingtip than most people's arms. The call was built to carry across rainforest canopy, and it still does.

P

ParakeetsA catch all for the small long tailed parrots, budgies included. The tail is the mark: on most species it runs longer than the body.

ParrotletsThe smallest parrots kept, and they have no idea of it: a parrotlet will square up to a bird ten times its size. Quieter than a conure and just as busy.

ParrotsTwo toes forward and two back, which is what lets a parrot hold food in one foot. Long lived as a family, and among the few birds that use tools.

PigeonsIt finds its way home from hundreds of miles by a sense nobody has fully explained. Domesticated for thousands of years, and raced long before it was a city bird.

Q

QuailA ground bird that starts laying at around six weeks, sooner than any chicken. Kept for eggs in a space a chicken could not use.

Quaker ParrotThe only parrot that builds a nest out of sticks, and it builds it as an apartment block shared with other pairs. Good talkers and very hard to keep quiet.

S

Society FinchIt exists only in captivity: there is no wild society finch anywhere. Bred as a foster parent, and it will raise the chicks of other finch species.

Z

Zebra FinchThe most studied songbird in science, because the male learns his song from his father and the learning can be watched step by step. Only the males sing.