finding the right parrot

Question
Hello, i recently built an aviary outside. It's tall enough for you to walk through and plenty of room for a single parrot. I cant seem to find a sutible bird though. i live in a state where its hot/warm in the summer and in winter we get lots of snow and it gets very cold. of course i would bring the bird inside during winter. I would like a fairly small parrot that can be lovable,likes to talk and easy to maintain. (and something that doesnt cost thousands of $$$$) Do you have any ideas for a sutible parrot? information, websites, anything you can think of i would greatly apprciate.  Thanx :)

Answer
Amber,

First off- if you are interested in getting a "lower maintance parrot" stay away from African Greys, Amazons, Cockatoos and Macaws at all costs!

There are sooo many more factors about finding the right parrot for you that there is no way I could recommend a single or couple of species at this point. I would need to know more about- what kind of personality you are looking for in a parrot? do you have kids? What is your previous bird experience? How much noise can you handle? How much time will you have to spend with your parrot? What is the aviary made out of? What strength and kind of wiring/metal did you use to make your aviary? What is the bar spacing on your aviary?

Since a single parrot would need to feel apart of the "human flock"... it would be recommended to keep your bird with you while you are home (so that s/he gets the necessary companionship parrots need) and it would be necessary to bring your parrot inside to sleep at night. Bringing a bird inside at night helps protect them from the cold and predators.

If you want, you can send me back the answers/comments to what I've said above... I can help you narrow down the possiblities of what parrot(s) might work in your situation.

Here are also some online articles to help you narrow down your search:

http://www.birdsnways.com/wisdom/ww13ev.htm

I hope this helps! :)

-Maggie

http://www.realmacaw.com/pages/whichbird.html