[MandieD]

I loved my little maroon-bellied conure and miss her greatly, but frankly, cockatiels are better pets. Sassy was many good things, but “sweet” and “even-tempered” were not among them.

Sometimes she was estatically happy, other times she wanted to take my fingers off and didn’t only because her beak was too small. And she could make that shift with little or no notice. She was able to open any cage fastening that did not require a key or human grip. All this in a bird most people would think was a funny-colored budgie.

I’m not sure about keeping parrots of any size again, at least until I’m retired or it looks like remote working will be the norm for a long time - and then, I’d lean towards cockatiels, and definitely rescues.