Anyway, I'm back from work, so I can actually try to answer some things
1) Can't really comment on if a pair of birds will bond together and ignore the humans around them. I've read conflicting accounts on the internet, so my best guess is it depends on the pair of birds and your specific relationship with them.
2) The issue of some specific amount of daily interaction is something of a nebulous topic. When I first got Auri, the breeder told me at least half an hour of attention daily (I laughed in my head but smiled politely). Others might say two hours, or three.
Honestly, after being with Auri for close to a month and a half now, I'd say asking "how much time should I spend interacting with my parrot" is answered much the same way as "how much time should I spend interacting with my two year old toddler?" Yes, you
can get them hooked on toys and leave them alone for most of the day. You
can effectively hire "sitters" and leave them in the general company of relatives. You
can simply feed them processed "formulaic" foods and do all you can to make sure their environment is clean and stimulating and generally leave it at that. But nothing can adequately substitute the one-on-one attention of a loving parent who cares whole-heartedly about the bird's (hence, toddler's) development.
For example, get this: in the time it took me to type what I have so far, Auri climbed to the neck of my shirt, started chewing on it, and growled at me. This is one of the ways she signals to me that she wants attention. I picked her up, and she rolled over on my hand. She's been like this for the past couple minutes:
Note that I didn't ask her to do a trick (like I might have attempted to prompt with a dog), nor did she attempt to command my attention entirely (like cats do, because they can be jerks). And I definitely wouldn't classify it as problematic behavior. This was
communication between us, shaped over the past ~5 weeks of daily interaction. Heck, I barely got her to be comfortable on her back at the end of last week, and now she's using it, voluntarily and without prompt, to thank me for giving her attention. That's the thing about conures - they can be bigger jerks than cats, sweeter and more affectionate than most dogs, with intelligence to match or exceed both. And it is your interaction (or lack of it) that will shape these qualities and come to define your bird as its own individual. Just something to keep in mind.
3) General internet wisdom says no, especially at the outset. They can share the same room, but a lot of the well-raised birds I've seen (specifically thinking of Amanda's Rio and Tuki from her youtube channel) house each bird in their own cages.
4) I still don't quite know what "beginner pet" means, but I've come to reason that this refers to "hamsters" and "goldfish" in that you can generally leave them alone and they'll turn out fine. In that sense, conures and parrots in general are not beginner pets. You can leave them alone if you condition them a certain way, but that kind of undermines their potential to become really cool individuals unto their own and would be a general disservice to their species, kind of like how we'd feel about leavings kids to read books and play videogames all day in a room without giving them a chance to go outside and explore new things or play with others.
Now, actually, my GCC, Auri, is quite nice. I wouldn't call her "docile" by any means, but she hasn't bitten me or even nipped hard at all since Day 2. Sometimes she gently nibbles my shirt, or my ear, but I haven't received even a firm nip from her for weeks now.
She is the exception. And I consider myself fairly well "tuned" to birds in general. Conures tend to be assertive, and without a strong flock leader actively overseeing their development, this can lead to multiple not-that-great and definitely-not-that-great paths.
For some background, I've had fish, hamsters, budgies, dogs, turtles, and rats in the past (the turtle is still well and alive at my parents' house, in their backyard). Auri is easily the most intelligent and affectionate of all of them (closely rivaled by our late Labrador Retriever), particularly in the area of communication. As other users have been expressing, a conure isn't quite so much a "pet" as it is "an individual from another species who will share your space and insist on eating from your plate." Be prepared if you choose to invite one into your home!
Right now, Auri
is chilling with me. She's grinding her beak contentedly on my shoulder. But this single moment definitely does not define her
If you do end up going with a conure, congrats, and we'll be here for you to help you through anything
