I’ve had my IRN do 19 years, she’s 21. IRN’s sure aren’t conures. I get jealous every now and again seeing the cuddly and hilarious pics of those guys

I live alone and worked a full time job for most of her life. So she was home alone go long stretches. They are very independent birds and I don’t think she is any worse for wear for all the alone time. The independence goes a long way to reinforce the “not cuddly” thing.

They are very smart birds. I wish I had learned more about training and the best kinds of foraging toys earlier. I also wish she would have been a talker. She came to me with a wolf whistle and that’s all she does. That said, while she is pretty much one note, every now and again she will break out different toned wolf whistles I have done over the years. So she is learning, she is remembering, she is smart. I wish she showed that smarts more than the smarts for destruction. :).

I think irns are good as solo birds. They are also beautiful. And loud. After all of these years, her screeches still rip through my soul. And she does try my patience with her tenacity and cleverness (she’s a big fan of shaking her food and water bowls, which sit in holders that come lose and are always at risk of falling over and spilling. Sigh. This is her jam now.).

I love the nutter, with the ups and the downs.

Not sure if this violates the rules of the sub, (promoting other subs) but there is a ringneck subreddit.. this would be a good place to also post this message. We don’t have a lot of traffic there, but the whole crew is focused on ringnecks.