It's the male canaries who sing the prettiest. I had a friend had one. "Yah-yoo" (her 2yr old couldn't say "yellow") loved her kids and her, but was not the type to be handled. He was a happy, cheerful little bright spot in each day. They really loved him.

I had cockatiels and zebra finches for years, but they were always rescues and had mostly not been handled, so they were not hand-fed, nor used to sitting on a shoulder, plus I didn't trust the cats enough to let them out. I loved them, though, again it was the males who sang the most. My first one greeted me every morning with a perfect "wolf" whistle; made me always feel gorgeous!LOL.

I had a pair of peach-faced lovebirds and gave them away, as a pair. Messiest, noisiest birds I've ever known. Zebra finches are adorable and sound like sweetish little sewing machines. Very chipper.

I had a friend who was raised with a parrot. She was so much a part of the family, she was like an older sister to him. She rode everywhere with him, on his shoulder, in his car, posed for pix on all of their travels and repeated a LOT of what she heard. Smart bird. He also had a small parrot who was just a doll, used to cats, riding on shoulders, eating at the table, perched on the back of a chair. He ate a lot of what my friend had.

Basically, you need to work with them everyday, hand-feed, and try to get them from someone who started them out that way. I am sure there must be some good videos on youtube which would be of help.

Oh, I also had a friend who had a pocket parrot, rode around in his shirt pocket. Cutest thing, just adorable! Liked to take showers, as did my other friend's birds.

What I remember most about my cockatiels is they needed to be where they could see out, not so much directly in a window, but set off a bit to the side or back from any drafts which might come through. I always covered their cages at night to keep the drafts off. I took in one which had been kept in a corner away from all windows. The poor thing had plucked out almost all of his feathers. When I put him near a window in a warm spot, he quit plucking and became a really sweet, happy bird.

If I didn't have Kipling-the-psycho-hunter-Siamese who doesn't get to go out and get anything, I'd probably have another cockatiel and Zebra finch. They always got on well together and were really fun to hear. I have one tape of me playing my lap dulcimer when I first got it in which I can hear my last cockatiel singing with me.

Ask Spaw. He and Karen have had cockatiels for a number of years.

Have fun and good luck.

Oh, and some birds need cages which are more vertical while other breeds need ones that are longer horizontally.