What are Good Qualities of a Parrot?
I plugged in the search term ‘choosing a parrot’. Not to find that information, but to discover what’s being googled about parrots by others searching the internet. The third prompt down in the list of like searches was ‘good qualities of a parrot’. If you’ve never lived with a parrot, that’s not a bad search. The question is wrong, but the idea to understand what a parrot is and isn’t, is a good place to start.
What are good qualities of a dog? Loyalty, devotion, friendship, a mind that wants to please, fetch, and play. Awesome napping partner. What are good qualities of a cat? Calm, friendly, confident, litter trainable, prefers sleeping through the night, not interested in knocking all things off shelves. What are good qualities for a chicken? Not a rooster in disguise.
A parrot will think, what are good qualities of this human? Am I interested in these qualities? What is this human going to do for me? Do I have time for this right now? Is there any positive outcome to cooperating with the ideas this human is bringing up? Does this guy really think I want that in my cage? What kind of food is this? Did I ask for any of this? No. No, I did not. I’ll have to dump all this on the floor. Again.
Choosing a parrot isn’t choosing qualities. Outside of cage size, bar gauge and spacing, there is no setting up a cage for a breed specifically. A parrot is a parrot, and every parrot is different. Most small parrots think they are huge. Most huge parrots think they are a Great Dane. Most parrots will not tolerate a human’s stress. And all parrots have opinions. They have opinions that are strong. Certain to an extent that says, “Prove it.” They will wait for you to do that proving. And they will look at you with an expression that says, “You are a lost cause, you know this?”
Parrots are unlike any other companion because they can fly. Their perspective of life is based on flight. Their entire brain is hardwired to operate around that ability. They’ve got a brain that supports that much superpower. You’ll find yourself trying to keep up with what they are trying to tell you.
So, what are good qualities of a parrot? The same found in good friends. Patience, devotion, communication, a sincere sense of connectivity humans call family, they call flock. A long lifespan. Longer than other companion animals. Time and space available for building that companion relationship. The trick isn’t the qualities of the parrot. The trick is the qualities of the human. They expect the best out of us. It’s how it works in their world.
