Small birds can be just as much fun

During the time I was working at Feathered Friends of Santa Fe, NM in the 80s and 90s, I noticed that many prospective parrot buyers were continually drawn to the large and striking psittacine species - macaws, pink cockatoos, talking Amazons, African Grey Parrots and the like.  This is to be expected I suppose since dramatic size and colouration of parrots can be quite magnetic to a new bird owner.

Yet, at the same time, many of the most devoted long-term psittacine owners who came in monthly for grooming appointments, or left their pets in the shop for boarding each fall holiday season, were keepers of smaller hookbills - cockatiels, conures, parrotlets, lorikeets etc.  These two realities are intricately related.  Small parrots can be just as endearing, but take up less time and are less labour-intensive than the larger birds.

Witness those many full-sized macaws and cockatoos that are given up and re-homed several times in their lifetimes while the pair of cute lovebirds in the parlour cage, live out their full lifetimes in a single household.

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