Thought I'd start talking about Budgie noise.
It just came up on another thread when I remarked on being shouted at by Rio to get him some food. Laker will watch me fill their food bowls and he makes a kind of growl sound.

Other thread ... Laker is being preened!

Really?! - I do know they will shout for a variety of reasons. Other birds don't? - they shout for pure fun or arbitrarily?

Budgies are real shouters. I laughed when I read that on a Budgie support page. I really think that a lot of people don't take that into account - the noisy Budgie. I didn't.

Lucky for me i was used to the birds in the trees around the farm house - quite deafening some months & my Grandmother's hen houses were of course quite noisy. I can fall asleep in the same room as my birds - during the daytime - something my husband is amased at. I actually enjoy listening to them. The only downside is having them land on your head & walk all over your face - thankfully not a popular activity.

When they settle down for the evening they have lovely night time songs & will sing in harmony. Sometimes they get carried away & get quite lively just when they should be settling down.... In fact I was just asked to calm them down [it's 8pm], by my husband who was trying to read & said he couldn't hear himself think. They always quiet down when I peer into their cages & whisper 'sleepie time you guys'.[pretty silly but effective.]

Spice is a real squawker, I'm not sure I would call it shouting. But Sugar is a much quieter bird. But when they both start chattering together it is a very cute sound. Even my husband thinks it sounds nice. And they do sing together at times as well.

It's funny how much more vocal Budgies are when you have two. I found this out when I got Ziggy ... lots more chatter between them going on.

Pogo & Ziggy know when it's bed time too. When I turn off the TV and start turning lights off they know. They go into their cage easily and I give them both a scratch on the head good night ... they both let me touch them much more freely at bed time for some reason.

They ARE very expressive vocally when they want to get their point across - both of my boys sometimes do loud rants. Jerry tends to do his screeching when he's upset about something. When he's out and screeching the screech fest will end in a high speed flight (to burn off the steam I believe).

Comparing the budgies vocally with Lulu, she isn't nearly as expressive vocally. She'll contact call when she wants attention, but when she's upset she'll hiss, which is much more quiet than the budgie rants.

And I've too noticed how much more chatter there is with TWO budgies vs. one - but I adore their chatter, shouting and all

Jac, you are making me want a budgie! I had one as a teenager and we were best of friends! I do believe that one has just not been "told-off" until one has been "toldoff" by a budgie! LOL They certainly get their point across! Reminds me of my chihuahua!

Budgies always seem to express themselves vocally rather than physically. The part about Rio yelling in an ear is typical budgie. A bigger bird would more likely tell you physically by throwing the food dish like a missile at your head that there is a problem with service delivery. Bigger birds that use feet have different ways of expressing the needs/desires/requirements. Peanut and company choose to manhandle and use brute force on the dishes. Peanut may also show me by flying to it where the good stuff is kept. Bigger birds are more likely to resort to "help yourself" than a budgie.
Budgies when shouting always remind me of cartoon figures cursing &@#%, those kind of language symbols.

Budgies also chatter all day long but it is a much more pleasant sound than the dawn chorus others are capable of. Most of the budgie chatter is chirps, tweets, clicks and a multitude of other sounds. An angry, displeased or demanding budgie is easy to recognize. Also budgies seem to have a lot more facial expression when making the needs known. I sort of think that budgies are more capable of many more different sounds than other parrots. They have a much wider natural vocabulary.

In general my bigger birds sound off 3 times a day, unless you trying to talk on the phone or there are intruders. We have the wake up call, food has arrived everybirdie be on the alert, and the go to bed sleep well calls. During the day there is the odd squawk and chatter but never continuous.

This is only my opinion and I have excluded all parrots that sing songs and talk as some of these can do an entire concert each day. I am referring only to bird vocabulary.

Thanks for your insights Angie - you are one of the few here who are experienced in a variety of birds & in numbers.

Everything you've said about the Budgie rings true.

I love the: That really cracked me up!

It's not quite so funny when the dish was full of food at the time of throwing.

I am sure that Rio's dish was not empty when he decided you needed some encouragement to provide.

Jessalyn and Angie, both of your statements are SO true

When Jerry's throwing a fit and ranting and raving up a storm I ask him if he's upset but then quietly I chuckle to myself because it's rather funny to see such a tiny little guy spewing all kinds of budgie curse words and then flying off (sometimes still screeching in flight) with tremendous gusto in a huff.

Someone needs to make a video of a budgie giving his opinion. They are certainly not appreciated as they should be.