AonEne

Thanks for the info! I was planning on, depending on my situation, starting with something like a budgie or cockatiel and then working my way up so I’d have experience. I know that realistically I probably won’t be able to get one at all without it outliving me (and that can do a ton of physiological/emotional damage to the bird and would be cruel), but I still like to dream  My plan for my first bird is to get a cocktail, name it Pikachu, and teach it to say “pika-pika” (that’s not my only reason of course, but it sounds awesome).

You know that feeling when you have 6 notifications and you get all excited? 

And then they're all "___ replied to a status update"  

My allergies are a lot of things, but not very extreme, so I just take a pill every day and hardly notice them. And I'm lucky enough to have no food allergies, so that's good too.

Lucky! If I get within five feet of a horse I can have a full blown asthma attack. And being around really young puppies is also really bad. But same on the food allergies. Mango and banana used to make my stomach hurt a bit, but they don't bother me anymore.

African greys are amazing birds, though. If I had to get a large bird, I'd personally go with a macaw.

Cockatiels are great starter birds. They're plenty playful, but also happy to just hang out on your shoulder. (They do produce a lot of "feather dust" (I think that's what it's called), though, so if you have allergies, watch out.) And if you get a big enough cage, cockatiels and budgies have been known to get along really well together. You'd just have to keep a close eye on them. Budgies are awesome too, and $130 to $80 cheaper. You can easily keep a lot of them together, they're relatively quiet, and really fun to watch goof off. Cockatiels, I think, whistle more than they talk (which can be fun too), and can pretty easily be in their own. (Budgies can get lonely really easily if only one is kept). Cockatiels can also find with multiple people with very little difficulty, which makes them awesome family birds.

A good step up from a budgie or cockatiel would be a parrotlet or conure, in my opinion.

If you ever decide to get a bird, I could point you towards some awesome resources. (Two decent YouTube channels to help introduce you more fully to the world of birds are Flock Talk (she has a green cheek and a parrotlet) and Live Laugh Birds (green cheek, cockatiel, several budgies)).