Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. -- Buddha
Once upon a time, I ran across a funny colored bird at a pet store. He was cuddly, sweet, and oh so peculiar, intelligent in a way I had never found before. Unlike many people who impulse buy parrots, we went home with a book that day. Many weeks of research later, High Tea came home. And my journey began.
Parrots are rapidly becoming a common pet. It is relatively simple to find and bring home almost any species of parrot from the common budgerigar (known stubbornly in the United States as a parakeet) to the magestic macaw and almost every species in between.
Knowledge is the problem. There are hundreds of books and articles about parrots, probably thousands of websites. Each of them offering the lessons that their authors have learned.
Why am I writing another then? Because too much of the information out there disagrees. Because too much of the information out there is black and white, and parrots should be handled in shades of grey.
These are the lessons I have learned about a group of creatures both like us and vastly alien. Take what helps you, what you agree with, and share it if you wish.