[Eliza]

It really depends on the parrot and the people who care for it.

I've had both budgies and lovies; I'd have to say that while I hold budgies very near and dear to my heart lovebirds are my favorite of the two. Hard to say why, though... I will say that in some cases, lovebirds are a bit more stubborn, tempermental and bossy than budgies but that's not to say that budgies are more laid back ;)

Back when I had budgies I had the typical "American Parakeet" sold in most pet shops. They were not hand raised or socialized and I didn't spend a lot of time trying to make them accept human handling. That's not to say that my budgies didn't get toys and out of cage time, of course. A few years ago I decided that I missed having an avian companion and after a lot of thought (mostly debating between a Senegal and a parrotlet), I decided to bring home a hand-raised & socialized lovebird. Beetle was the love of my life and a bright spot to my day.

You may wish to visit some sites devoted to the species you are interested in, such as talkbudgies.com or lovebirdsplus.com.

IMHO, either species of small parrot can make a fine companion, just so long as you are willing to put the time into socializing it.

Since you already have a budgie (and only brought him or her home recently), why don't you spend the next 6-12 months earning that parrots love and trust. In the meantime, read up more on budgies AND lovebirds. You can certainly have a lovebird AND a budgie, you just cannot allow them to live together (both lovebirds and budgies are bossy little parrots and have no fear of anything; lovebirds in particular have been known to attack or maim birds similar in size), you *might* be able to have them out of their seperate cages if you cafefully supervise them.

Best of luck,

-e-