Help Please!! Questions..

[PatriciaLynn]

I know my amazon is loud enough to hear when I am outside the house with the dog. And he's not as loud as a macaw! Scully isn't a screamer but he still calls every day for at least a little bit and he would be way to loud for an apartment. My cockatiel and Timneh African Grey can be loud but their noise level would be okay for an apartment.

[PMattix]

When I had an OWA, Sun, and Tiel in a townhouse, I'd hear my Sun before anything. My Zon never made any noise but then again he hated me and makes alot more noise with his new girlfriend now......waiting on some babies! lol

[cheyanneandmark]

Yes, babies, babies, babies
You breeders make me giggle

[PMattix]

He doesnt live with me anymore. He took to one of my friends and she had just lost her male OWA so I let him go live with her and his new girlfriend.
They've been mating and I'm hoping to get one of the babies so I can still "have a piece of him" I really miss him alot.

[Buteo]

Honestly, Macaws are not a good choice for an apartment.

I don't own a macaw, but a good frend of mine had a big Mil for many years.
Loudness?
dB wise, Macaws are in a class that only some cockatoos & big Zons can reach.
When Gene's big guy was vocal, I could hear him while I was still almost a block away from her place in my car!!!

As to the relationship you can have with one.
Macaws, especially the Military, aren't supposed to be as Velcro as Toos, but it can happen.
My friend Gene was a very, very, special person...
Warm, open & loving.
The kind of person you could think of as your "Mom away from Mom", (even if she wasn't old enough to be your mom ).
I can't help but smile..and cry when I think of her. She had been married, but her husband had been killed in an auto accident years before I'd met her.

She's the one that introduced me to the love of birds.
She had 3:
a happy, funny, little nutball of a Sennie,....
a quiet, but friendly WCP,...
and her big constant companion (& watchbird) Military.

The other 2 birds were super friendly & would go to anyone.
The Mil was a different story.
In his first few weeks with her, even though she tried her best to watch him very closely, he still managed to sneak off & pretty well DEMOLISH 5 very expensive chairs, an antique coat rack & it's attached intricately carved umbrella stand.
He also caused the collapse of a 18th century antique table.
Gene named him Jack....after Jack the Ripper.
(LOL! Jack sounded better than "Chainsaw")
If you were to give Jack a 2' length of 2x4, you would have pile of toothpicks in a little over 1.5 hours.

Jack belonged to Gene completely & utterly. She could do anything to him. If she wanted his feet, or needed to see in his mouth, compliance was immediate. He loved nothing more than to snuggle up against Gene, ever so gently tickle her earlobes with his tongue and tell her he loved her.

Sadly, Gene developed cancer.
Drs treated her.
Jack freaked & was a ROYAL SCREAMING PITA when she lost her hair. Never screamed at her though.
LOL! It's like he blamed anyone else in the room for it.

The Drs thought they beat it, but after just a few years it came back.
Gene chose to stay home with her birds at the end. She made sure the Sennie & WCP went to good homes about 2 weeks before she past.
Jack was EXTREMELY particular about other people. I couldn't get near him and neither could the nurses that came to take care of Gene. There was only one other person (another friend of hers named Jessica) that could touch Jack without taking a major hit from that powerful beak.
Gene had put in her will that Jack was to go to Jessy.

Jack always was a persnickity bird, but when Gene got sick, he really got protective of her. The sicker she got, the more protective Jack got. Near the end, Gene would go into these phases where even if she was in the middle of a sentence she would suddenly go silent & drift into this half lidded stare. Sometimes it was only for a few mins, sometimes it was for almost hour. As soon as she did this, it didn't matter what Jack was doing- He would stop immediately, and fly from his cage or playstand to her bed, walk up the blankets to cuddle against the side of her face making this every so soft "Awwwww luv you" till she recovered and started talking again.
Jack would NOT allow anyone to approach her. If you were in the room beside her bed when it happened, you basically had to stay put because if ya even tried move, he would fluff up, his face would flush red & he would charge across the bed at you.

The nurses & attendents all knew of Gene's standing NR request and had instructions to contact Jessy immediately if she wasn't already there.


If anyone wonders if birds can feel sorrow at the loss of their human companions..
Yes.
I'll never forget the sounds Jack was making in the background when Jessy called me to say that Gene had passed.
You would swear it was a human child crying.

I've lost track of Jack & Jessy after her last job change, but the last I heard he wasn't doing very well. He's never really recovered from losing his favourite human. He kept callin out "Gene! I'm in here. Where's my luv!" months later.

[Valo's Moirana]

if you are concerned about the noise level in an apartment, no way you should get a macaw IMO... i ended up moving because people complained about my conures screaming....

you could look around a little - the parrot world has much to offer

[Luisa]

I live in an apartment and I can tell you, a Macaw would not be a good choice due to the noise level. Another type of bird to look into is the entire Poicephalus family (Meyer's, brown headed parrot, red-bellied parrot, senegal). Also, the Pionus family (blue-headed pionus, bronze-winged, white-capped, dusky, maximillian) These are noted for being the "quieter" group, but even my Senegal can be alittle loud at times. Heck...my 4 budgies are loud in their own way...they chatter endlessly as long as there is any light in the room. Of course....its not anywhere as loud as a MAcaw can get.

Just remember.....You might not mind the noise.....but neighbors do!

[PMattix]

Yep, def think about how you would feel if you weren't a "bird person" and had to listen to your neighbors screaming macaw......

[cheyanneandmark]

Lol, I agree with the comment above mine. ANYWAY, I own my own house and the neighbors sometimes (rarely) complain about Armaggedon's screaming

[Kachina]

Eclectus are fairly quiet birds in comparison to some of the other bigger guys, but they can still belt out an ear piercing scream when they want to.

If you're looking for quiet, I'd suggest a greencheek or pionus. Of course no bird is completely silent all the time if they're healthy, but those two as a species don't tend to be excessively loud.

Have you thought about adopting? You could find a shelter near you and meet the birds in person to gauge what their personal noise level and cuddle-factor is.