Can you tell me about their personalities? Particularly their 'tameness' and 'cuddliness'. I already know they are very smart.

The Male Ekkie is one of my desired future birds, along with Caiques.

Please let me hear about yours!

Michele:

My male ekkie, named Charley, is a very quiet, reserved guy in general. He likes to be held but not necessarily petted. He especially seems to enjoy my holding him close to me and near my heart. He does not like to be touched on his head at all but welcomes kisses on the beak!! He is a jealous guy, though, and does not like any of my other birds. He LOVES to eat (sometimes I think he lives to eat!) and he enjoys being given a basin of water to splash around in -- not big on showers or being misted. He is happy so long as I am in his line of vision and will get down off his playstand or fly to come find me should I leave the room without him. In other words, he likes "ambient" attention more than my other birds -- he's happy to be on a playstand with his toys so long as I am in the room with him and he can see me -- he is not the type of bird who will insist on perching on me in order to be happy. And he is a very good talker and clearly enjoys the attention when I speak to him (his eyes pin and he talks back). Charley has been with me now for nearly 3 years (my how time flies!) and I love the little guy to death! I think male ekkies are wonderful pets!!

I also happen to have 3 caiques and can tell you for certainty that they are on the opposite end of the personality scale from male ekkies!! They are rambunctious, playful, outgoing and full of spit and vinegar. Not great talkers although I have heard of some who do speak a few words. I don't think you could go wrong with caiques either.

My Ekkie is awesome! He just turned 1 in Dec and is starting to talk up a storm. He shouts when he talks! He says "AWWWWWW HIYA HON!!!!" and when its time to step up he says 'C'mom! C'mon now!!" He chases my Rosie down the hall at bed time shouting "ARR ARR ARR ARR!!!" His voice is like Elmo so its extra cute. He loves to kiss and cuddle. I can embrace him completely and kiss his head. He loves a good belly razz. I can do anything to him and he looks at me with such love and trust it makes my heart flutter. He is social with my 3 other guys and will sit on the perch next to them and play on the floor together. He has a major crush on Afa my Goffins right now. She is making eyes at him and cooing, oh and they kiss! I have to get pics of this by the way. He loves showers and eats anything I give him. Outstanding colors are eye popping! Over all, he is wonderful, I cant say enough!!

Michele:

I should add that I adopted Charley when he was between 13 and 16 months of age and for the first year of his life, he had been neglected. He was no doubt affected by his early experience and I had major trust issues with him when I first brought him home. I will never know how much of his adult personality is affected by that first year of his life.

Kelly

I have a Male SI, young (weaned out by myself). Seems very tame still but unfortunately I do not have all that time these days in my life to interact with him like I want to - so I will let ya know more down the road when I get caught up around here. I also have Caiques now and agree with everything Kelly said about them. If ya have room in your life for both, I would highly recommend both.

Thanks guys!
Something about male ekkies really gets to me. I just love them. I have held a lot of baby males, but have not interacted with too many adult ekkie males. The babies have been gorgeously snuggly, like most parrot babies are. What about the differences between differen Ekkie types (SI vs. Vos, for example)

I've met 3 caiques in my life and they were all the same: silly, tactile, gymnastic, and smart as whips. Lisa B's caique, Ollie, is a darling. As soon as I met Lisa, she said, "Ollie is going to LOVE you with your long curly hair!" And he did. He snuggled and swirled and got all tangled in my hair, loving it!

I hope to move back to the States (fingers crossed) this year (maybe even in a few months!) The reason I have only one fid is because of our long-standing plans to move countries. My husband said he will buy me a baby parrot as soon as we get to America.

I also want to open my home and love to at least one rescue parrot, of any species. Just someone who has had a tough time and needs a loving home. I did some volunteer work at New Life Parrot Rescue here in England, and fell in love with all the precious residents. I would work my butt off to give any one of those dear lives a wonderful home with us.

So thanks for all your opinions.

(right now my main problem is bringing dear Humph to the USA. I would never re-home her - even if I found a great home, who knows if it would last a lifetime? And I could never say goodbye to her, anyway. As it stands now she will have to go into quarantine for 30 days. I am heartbroken over this.)

That was beautiful, Leigh! What a beautiful description of your love for your bird.

And they are so beautiful. That green coat and candy corn beak! So sweet.

awww, thanks Michele! It's the truth though, he just makes my heart dance! Those round eyes are so soft when they look at you. Talking about species. Im told mine is a Red Sided. He is very large though. The last time I had him weighed he was 344g. I think he is around 13 inches long. If you ever come to NJ you can always visit! Look at my sig, I have 4 to play with!! Plus a pond full of fish!! BTW, I was just upstairs and could hear Occy talking. He is now saying his name VERY clear. It was like hearing a child say its first words! I found myself standing outside his room, with my hands to my face in disbelief! He was saying "Occy! ohhhh Occyyyyyyyy!" I have to get audio of this!!

The major difference, besides personality, that I can see in your decision is noise level. My two goons can get really noisy at times. Of course, they egg each other on, just like little kids. One caique isnt half as loud as two, LOL. But two is twice the fun!

I love my buggers- even though they run me ragged some days. They have personality plus, and always do just the right thing to make me smile. Caiques are not known for their talking skills, but both mine talk. Its certainly as not clear as some eclectuses I have heard- but they get their point across! My female, Rosie, when she wants to be picked up, will stand on the highest perch in her cage and start hopping up and down and say at the top of her lungs 'Come here right now pick me up pick me up pick me up! Come here RIGHT NOW and pick me up'.
Its too cute. Now, I adopted both my guys at when they were mature 3, and 6 respectively, but I have found that my male was a real handful during the first spring, then he really mellowed out... and now its the female keeping me on my toes!
I really believe too that if you can afford it and have the room, caiques benefit from another caique buddy. The great thing about caiques is that they still keep their bond to you, but still love to wrestle and play with their friends.

We just got a 4 yr old male SI into the store this week. He is a sweet beautiful bird. He'll ride around with anyone that stops to pick him up.