Pet bird that can tolerate cold?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been mildly considering getting a pet bird that is colorful and sings. Some random internet searching gives me the idea that colorful songbirds mostly come from parts of that world that don’t get very cold, and that they can’t deal well with cold.

My apartment gets downright chilly at times, and I like to keep the balcony door cracked for fresh air even in the winter. I don’t want to get a bird simply to kill it from exposure.

Any ideas? (And, yes, telling me I won’t find such a bird counts as an idea.)

2

parakeets are good starter birds for a new pet owner. My aunt had two for over ten years.

They don’t like cold drafts. If there’s somewhere in the room away from drafts they should do ok in a typical home. The cage is covered at night so they can sleep.

newbie care guide
http://www.birdguys.com/pet-bird-articles-parakeet.html

3

A room divider panel might be a way to create a draft free corner in a room. Something to consider anyhow.

My aunt’s main concern was keeping the cage away from the AC/heat vents. But she didn’t crack any doors or windows.

4

I keep my place chilly and I had an Eclectus- she seemed to do OK with it.

5

I second getting a parakeet or two. They come in many colors, and although they don’t really sing, they have a pleasant chirp and cackle when they are happy. And often can learn to talk.

If you get a bird, please consider taming it and letting outside of the cage to play. The bird will be much happier and stimulated when it can interact with its human flock. You may clip the bird’s wings if you wish, but when we had parakeets when I was a kid, we didn’t. Our birds were always tamed and didn’t shy away from us. They enjoyed spending time flying around and were very affectionate to us once tamed. You can even buy a playpen like this one for your birds to hang out on.

Although please make sure your balcony door isn’t open if you do allow your bird out of the cage. Open doors are like magnets to birds and even birds with clipped wings can achieve enough lift to fly straight out and become almost impossible to recapture.

6

Penguin
Arctic Tern
Ptarmigan

There are probably others.

7

I’ve found that Birds have personalities like cats. They can be fussy about who they like or don’t like.

You need to interact with the bird before buying it. Make sure it’s going to accept you. Birds can be very loving and affectionate after they are tamed.

8

We had a cockatiel when I was little and we put a small red heat light bulb in his cage, so that’s something you can consider, although you’d still have to be careful about drafts.

I suggest getting two birds though, so they won’t be lonely.

9

:cool:

10

Well, this pretty much takes care of it for me. My entire apartment is near a door, window, bathroom, or kitchen, except maybe for the bedroom closet.

I don’t get the humidity. I thought they were from inland Australia. It’s 60-70% humidity there?

11

Birds are sensitive creatures but I don’t think they’re THAT sensitive. You can keep them near a bathroom or kitchen. And I wouldn’t put one right next to a window or anything, but they don’t have to be a million miles away either. I live in a pretty small apartment, but there are certainly places I could put a bird.

12

If they are legal where you live, the Quaker parrot (AKA Monk Parakeet) might be a good option. They are able to tolerate cold weather because they come from mountainous areas. There are feral populations of Quakers in places like Chicago (this is why some states have banned them though - the fear that because they can survive outdoors in the USA they might pose a threat to agriculture). Certainly, a quaker could survive in temps that a person would find comfortable.
Quakers are plain looking green and grey birds. The reason many like them though is because of their intelligence and personality. Quakers are very intelligent and can learn to speak phrases with some understanding of what the phrase means. If you choose to teach them, they can learn to actually sing like a person would and can learn to whistle, but they don’t sing the way that a canary does.
They are considered one of the best talking birds of the small parrots (though each bird is an individual in terms of their talking potential - even in talking species, some individual birds never learn to speak for whatever reason).
Quakers usually will bond closely to one family member, but they can be a bit pugnacious with other birds and usually should not be mixed with other species because they might injure smaller, less feisty birds like cockatiels.

Some basic info about them can be found here:

13

Eh, nevermind. I did some googling after noticing the OP is in Colorado and it looks like that is one of the places that bans them. :frowning:
http://qp-society.com/wildquakers/wildtext/illegallist.html

Another idea might be Ringneck Doves. They are pretty tolerant of cold temps as well from what I understand. I don’t know a lot about them though.

14

I second the doves as they’re easy to care for.
Zebra Finches can tolerate 50-60F also, and are supposed to be fairly easy care, though they do need a companion or two.

15

I had wild caught mitred conure, they are from areas that get cold. I kept him out of drafts, but he never minded gradual temperature changes. I had gotten him a bird sleeping bag ( a hanging fake fur tube) that he would sleep in every winter. He tried to teach my African grey how to do this, but it never caught on. The problem is by now, any legit wild caught conures are going to be geriatric and less hardy. If you have a lot of drafts, a bird might not be a good idea.

16

Quaker Parrots can survive the freezing cold of Chicago Winters.

17

Let me suggest cockatiels as a possibility. They are bit more robust and tolerant of mildly cool temperatures than most of the parrots. At 50 degrees they just fluff up a bit more than they do at 70.

I don’t get this “avoid drafts at all costs” - these are animals that fly at 40 mph, moving air going past them is not instant death. I’ve got one cockatiel who insists on perching directly in front of any fan in the room, perching on the fan if need be. He loves getting his feathers ruffled. What’s important is that the bird be able to get out of drafts when it feels a need to do so.

Sleeping areas need to be draft free, which is why covering the cage at night is so often recommended. Covering/enclosing cages, or providing a nest box to sleep in, not only gives the bird a draft-free sleeping area, but allow the bird’s body heat to warm up the small, enclosed area to a nice, toasty temperature. Wild birds do sleep in holes (or, lacking hidey-holes, bunch up together) for protection from the elements and warmth.

But a bird out running around, playing, climbing, and flying doesn’t need to be protected from every tiny draft. If they’re out and about and get uncomfortable in a spot they’ll move. It’s when they’re confined in a cage it becomes more important. You also shouldn’t put a cage directly in front of a sunny window as you don’t want the birds to become overheated, either. My birds will bask in a window, but when they get uncomfortably warm they’ll move away from it if they’re unconfined. If they’re in a cage, though, they can’t.

When birds are given outside-the-cage playtime not only should windows be closed they should be covered because birds don’t really “get” clear glass and will smack into them. A light curtain, blinds, or a thin piece of cloth is sufficient for this. Mirrors also need to be covered, as birds think they can fly into them.

I would avoid the use of air fresheners and teflon cookware if you get a pet bird, there are too many cases of those being lethal to them.

Unsupervised birds outside a cage can cause damage to houseplants (and some types are poisonous to pet birds), furniture, books, and anything else they can get their beaks on. Birds chew, it’s instinctive. Give them stuff to chew on and keep forbidden stuff out of sight. (Aside from severely clipped birds they can fly, and even clipped they can climb, you can’t put stuff out of their reach).

18

Or can fall behind something and end up trapped between the something and the wall.

19

That, too.

If you let your birds out of the cage to exercise you’ll have healthier, happier birds. But you’ll also increase the risk of accidents. It’s a trade off. I definitely recommend supervision of play time.

20

And are illegal in Colorado, where the OP lives. (Post #13)