What Bird Should I Get – Pet Birds by Size and Lifespan

How it works

Thinking about a pet bird and not sure which kind? Press the button for one to read up on, from a budgerigar to a macaw, each with where it comes from and how long a veterinary manual says it lives.

Read the full guide

Start with how long it lives

After your first press, the list under the button narrows the draw. Can live 20 years or more holds most of the parrots: the manual gives a macaw an average of 30 to 60 years. Lives under 20 years holds the budgerigar, the canary and the finch.

Then size and sound

Small, and Medium or large, sort the kinds by the size the manual gives. Quiet for a bird and Talks, or some do, follow its notes on each voice. Nothing here says which bird suits you.

Questions and answers

Which pet birds live the longest?

Of the kinds here, the veterinary manual gives macaws an average of 30 to 60 years, African grey parrots 30 to 50, Amazon parrots 40 to 50 and cockatoos 25 to 50. Budgerigars and finches average 5 to 10 years.

Is a pet bird a long commitment?

It can be. The manual says larger parrots can live for 20 to 50 years and form strong bonds with their owners, which makes it hard for them to adjust if they need to change homes.

Which pet birds are quiet?

The manual calls doves quiet except for their cooing, grass parakeets small and quiet, and cockatiels, pigeons and small conures relatively quiet. It says finches are not loud but peep frequently, and budgerigars are not usually loud.

Is this a quiz that tells me the right bird?

No. It is a shuffled list with filters, made to give you a kind of bird to read about. It scores no answers and gives no care advice.

All 23 kinds of bird

Can live 20 years or more 16

African grey parrot Medium-size to large, from Africa. Average lifespan 30 to 50 years. An excellent mimic.
Amazon parrot Medium-size to large, from Mexico, Central and South America. Average lifespan 40 to 50 years. Most are great talkers and singers, and loud.
Brotogeris parakeet Small and lively, from South America. Average lifespan 15 to 20 years. Only some talk.
Caique From South America. Average lifespan 20 to 30 years. An active bird that hops. Some talk a little, and most males whistle well.
Cockatiel From Australia. Lives up to 20 years. Vocal, but relatively quiet compared with macaws or cockatoos.
Cockatoo From Australia and South Pacific islands. Average lifespan 25 to 50 years. Most are mainly white. Some talk, and its scream is very loud.
Dove A relative of the common pigeon. Lives up to 20 years. Quiet except for its cooing.
Eclectus parrot From Indonesia and Pacific islands. Average lifespan 20 to 50 years. Males are emerald green and females deep red. Talking ability varies.
Larger conure Small to medium-size, from South America. Lives up to 30 years. Active and beautifully colored, with a piercing voice.

Show all 23 kinds of bird (14 more)

Can live 20 years or more, continued

Lovebird From Africa. Lives up to 20 years. A sweet voice, not usually loud.
Macaw The largest of the parrots, from Central and South America. Average lifespan 30 to 60 years. It can talk, and its scream is very loud.
Parrotlet Small, from Mexico, Central and South America. Lives up to 20 years. Also known as a pocket parrot. Quiet compared with other parrots.
Pigeon From Europe, North Africa and western Asia. Lives up to 20 years. Relatively quiet, and often kept in colonies.
Pionus parrot Medium-size, from South America. Average lifespan 25 to 30 years. Quieter than Amazon parrots, its close relatives.
Psittacula parakeet Medium-size, from India, Southeast Asia and Africa. Lives up to 20 years. Very colorful. Many are good, quiet talkers.
Small conure Small, from Mexico, Central and South America. Lives up to 25 years. Relatively quiet; most are smaller than cockatiels.

Lives under 20 years 6

Budgerigar From Australia, where it is usually green in the wild. Average lifespan 5 to 10 years. Not usually loud, and it can learn to talk.
Canary From the Canary Islands and Madeira. Lives up to 15 years. Males often have a lovely song. Territorial: housed alone or in mated pairs.
Finch Mainly from Africa. Average lifespan 5 to 10 years. Usually kept in groups. Not loud, but it peeps frequently.
Grass parakeet Small and quiet, from Australia. Average lifespan 8 to 13 years. Generally does not talk.
Lory or lorikeet From Australia and Pacific islands. Average lifespan 15 years. Intelligent, curious and fairly nervous, with striking colors.
Rosella From Australia. Average lifespan 10 to 15 years. Brilliantly colored, and it tends to be nervous.

Small 1

Poicephalus parrot Small to medium-size, from Africa. The most common is the Senegal. Quiet compared with other parrots.

How this list was compiled: 23 kinds of pet bird, taken from the table of popular pet birds on the "Choosing a Pet Bird" page of a veterinary manual's edition for bird owners (https://www.merckvetmanual.com/bird-owners/choosing-and-taking-care-of-a-pet-bird/choosing-a-pet-bird), read on 2026-10-01. The table has 26 kinds. Three were left out: mynas (the row names an endangered species), Quaker parakeets (the row says they are illegal to own in a dozen US states) and toucans. Where each kind lives in the wild, its size, its lifespan and what the table says about its voice and company are copied from its row, and a script checked that the words behind every fact are in that row; a fact the row does not give is left off the card. The Poicephalus row prints a lifespan of "2–25 years", which looks like a misprint, so that card gives none. The RSPCA, whose care pages the pet page of this site uses, has general pages for pet birds and none for a single kind, which is why this list comes from the manual. The groups and the wording are ours. Nothing here is care or health advice, and nothing says which bird would suit you. Licence: facts from the page named; wording own work