The Nanday is a black-headed green conure with a reputation for being the loudest bird of its size anybody keeps. That reputation is earned. It is also one of the most affectionate, most comic and most robust small parrots available, and the people who keep them tend to keep them for thirty years.
Check your state before you buy
Nandays have established feral flocks in parts of the United States, and some states and counties restrict keeping them for that reason. The rules differ by place and they change, so check your own state and city before you commit rather than afterwards, and ask the breeder where they will and will not ship. A breeder who knows the answer is one who has been doing this properly.
The noise is the deciding factor
A Nanday has a harsh, carrying screech that is genuinely louder than a Sun Conure's and it uses it freely - at dawn, at dusk, and whenever something happens. There is no training it out. If you share a wall, if anybody in the house works on calls, or if you have ever had a noise complaint about anything, this is not your bird.
What you get for it
An enormous amount of parrot. Nandays are bold, physical, endlessly playful and strongly bonded to their people - they will ride on a shoulder all evening and come looking for you when you leave the room. Keepers consistently describe them as having more personality than birds three times the price.
Talking
Some speech, usually a handful of words in a rough voice, and a great many whistles and household sounds. Not a reason to choose one.
Living with one
Twenty to thirty years. A pelleted base with fresh vegetables, a cage with room to fly across, and a great deal to destroy. They bathe keenly and should be given the chance often.
One or two
A single Nanday given daily attention becomes extremely tame. A pair bonds to each other and will call back and forth, which in most houses is louder rather than quieter. If you want the shoulder bird, keep one.
Buying one
Go and hear one before you decide - not a recording, a bird in a room. Ask where the breeder ships and why. Ask when it weaned and about disease testing. The breeders listed on this page raise Nanday Conures and can be contacted directly through the site.