The Pacific or Celestial Parrotlet is the smallest parrot commonly kept, not much bigger than a budgie, and almost nothing like one to live with. Inside that small body is a full parrot - bold, territorial, strong-willed and entirely unaware of its size. People who love them love them for exactly that.
What they are like
Parrotlets are fearless. They will take on a bird five times their weight, investigate anything, and attach themselves fiercely to one person. A hand-raised one handled daily is affectionate and busy, riding about on a collar and burrowing into pockets. They are also stubborn in a way small birds are not supposed to be, and they do not bluff - a Parrotlet that has decided it does not want to be picked up will say so with its beak.
Not a beginner budgie
This is the part worth being blunt about, because it is how most Parrotlets end up rehomed. They are bought as an easy small bird for a child or a first owner, and they are neither. They need daily handling to stay tame, they will bite when they have had enough, and one left to itself for a few weeks becomes very hard to get back. A budgie forgives neglect in a way a Parrotlet does not.
Keeping more than one
Parrotlets are not reliably sociable with other birds. A bonded pair is fine together but will usually lose interest in people. Two unbonded birds, or a Parrotlet housed with another species, can end in serious injury - they are quite capable of killing a budgie or a finch. Keep one as a pet, or keep a pair as a pair, and do not mix them in with the rest of an aviary without knowing what you are doing.
The noise
Here is the compensation for all of the above: they are quiet. Parrotlets chirp, chatter and squeak, at a volume no neighbour will ever complain about. For a flat, a shared house, or anywhere a Conure or Macaw is out of the question, this is one of the few genuinely practical parrots.
Talking
Some learn a handful of words in a tiny, scratchy voice, and cocks are more likely to than hens. Most never do. Buy one for the personality.
Living with one
Expect fifteen to twenty years, which is a long time for a bird this size. They need a cage far bigger than their body suggests - they are active and they climb - with a pelleted base diet, fresh vegetables, and a supply of small things to shred. Because they are so light, a Parrotlet going off its food is an emergency within a day rather than a week.
Buying one
Ask how much the bird is handled now and by how many people, because this is a species where that matters more than most. Ask at what age it was weaned. Hens and cocks differ in colour in this species - cocks carry blue on the wings and rump - so sexing is usually straightforward, but ask rather than assume with a young bird.
The breeders listed on this page raise Pacific Parrotlets and can be contacted directly through the site. Their prices, and what the species has sold for over the years, are shown above.