Scarlet macaw

Talking: fair; it can learn words, though macaws are not known for large vocabularies. Noise: very loud, measured at 102 decibels from 15 feet away. Lifespan: typically 40 to 50 years, and some reach 75. The scarlet is the macaw of postcards and pirate costumes, with bare white facial patches and red, yellow and blue wings, and it is one of the large macaws most often kept as a pet. That 102-decibel reading, taken from across a room, is the number to sit with, and macaw owners report their birds at their loudest at particular times of day, every day. Like every big macaw it needs a huge cage, a steady supply of things to destroy with its beak, and hours of daily attention for the rest of a very long life.