I love this bird. He has been with me twenty-one years now, and the place I got him from estimated him to be about two years old, so I consider him to be twenty-three. The older he gets the more mellow he is, although he can still really pump up the volume when he wants to.

I can’t image what my life would be without him. Internet resources claim Nanday Conures lifespans range from twenty to thirty years. He has slowed down considerably in activity, but he is just as agile and quick as always as far as I can tell when flying, and he can destroy a chunk of pine as fast as always. I’m hoping I have many more years of his company, because my shoulder without Bandit on it just doesn’t feel right.