What Kind of Parrot Should I Get? African Gray

Congo African Grey

www.Parrots.com describes the Congo African Grey this way: These birds are light grey with bright red tails. Generally accepted to be the best talkers in the parrot family. They can easily learn words and phrases. Owners often tell stories of their grey carrying on conversations using the voices of the owners. They are also extremely intelligent. They have the ability to put words together with actions or objects. “One of our birds will greet our kids by name because he has seen us call the kids and he learned their names. They can so effectively imitate the human voice that they can even mimic inflections of distance - giving the appearance of "throwing their voice". Sometimes we are in the breeding barns and one of the breeders that used to be our pet will call "Mom", and you would swear that one of our kids is calling Janet from the house.

The one drawback to the grey is that they tend to be a one-person bird. Even though they come from being raised in a family situation, and go into a family situation, they usually single out one person to bond to and then either ignore everyone else or in some instances become aggressive (biting) others in the family. This usually happens in about a year. If someone is looking for a family pet that everyone can play with, the African Grey is probably not the right choice.

Timneh African Grey

Similar to the Congo African Grey. The Timneh, has a darker grey color and the tail is ruby compared to the red tail of the Congo. On average the Timneh is about 1 inch smaller.