Our Available Parrots

How to narrow the choice sensibly

Colour is the worst possible basis for choosing a parrot, and it is the one most people start from. The four factors that actually determine whether a placement lasts are noise, lifespan, space and daily time. Work through them in that order.

Noise first, because it is the commonest reason birds are rehomed and the one thing that cannot be trained away. If you live in an apartment or attached housing, the realistic candidates are a cockatiel or a budgerigar - not a conure, not an Amazon, and certainly not a cockatoo or macaw. Lifespan second: a cockatiel is a 15-25 year commitment, an Amazon or a macaw is 50 years or more and will very likely outlive you, which means naming a guardian in your will is part of responsible ownership rather than an afterthought.

Space and time, realistically

• Minimum enclosure runs from 61 x 46 x 61 cm for a cockatiel to 152 x 91 x 183 cm for a Hyacinth Macaw. Measure the space you have before you shortlist.
• Every parrot needs daily out-of-cage time in a bird-proofed room, regardless of cage size.
• Budget several hours a day of interaction and enrichment for a large parrot. Caiques and cockatoos need more than that.
• Destructible chew items are a permanent running cost, not a one-off purchase.
• Find an avian-experienced veterinarian before you acquire a bird. Ordinary small-animal practices often cannot treat psittacines.

The legal position, in one paragraph

Every species in the order Psittaciformes is listed on CITES Appendix I or II, with exactly four exceptions: the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), the cockatiel (Nymphicus hollandicus), the rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri) and the peach-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis). Moving any listed bird across an international border requires export and import permits obtained in advance. Within the European Union, CITES is implemented by Regulation (EC) No 338/97; Appendix I species sit in Annex A, and a commercial transaction involving an Annex A bird - an African Grey, a Hyacinth or Scarlet Macaw, a Yellow-naped Amazon, most cockatoos - requires a bird-specific Article 10 certificate and a matching closed ring or microchip. The EU has also banned imports of wild-caught birds since 2007 under Regulation (EC) No 318/2007. Confirm current requirements with your national CITES management authority, because listings change at each Conference of the Parties.