If you’ve ever wandered through a jungle biome and heard the cheerful chirp of a colorful parrot flitting between oak leaves, you’ve probably wondered how to bring one home as a companion. Learning how to tame parrot Minecraft is one of the most rewarding small goals in survival mode, far simpler than taming a wolf or cat, and comes with tons of fun little perks you might not know about. I’ve been playing Minecraft for over 8 years, and I always make a point to grab at least one parrot every time I spawn near a jungle – they’re great company on long mining trips, and their silly mimicry of nearby mob noises never gets old. Before you run off chasing the first red parrot you see, there are a few small rules you need to follow to make the process go smoothly, and avoid accidentally hurting the mob you’re trying to befriend.
What You Need to Know Before You Learn How to Tame Parrot Minecraft
First, parrots only spawn in jungle biomes, above Y level 70, usually in groups of 1 to 3. They come in 5 different colors: red, blue, green, cyan, and gray, so if you’re hunting for a specific shade to match your base decor, you might have to explore a larger stretch of jungle to find what you want. Parrots are 100% passive mobs, so they won’t attack you even if you hit them by accident, but they will fly away if you get too loud or make sudden movements nearby, so patience is key here.
The biggest mistake new players make when trying to tame a parrot is grabbing the wrong food. Cookies are toxic to parrots in-game, just like they are in real life – one bite will kill them instantly, so keep those stored away in a chest before you head out looking for parrots. The only food you can use to tame them is any type of seed: wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, beetroot seeds, even torchflower seeds or pitcher pods if you’re playing the latest game update. Wheat seeds are the easiest to source early game, just punch a few patches of grass until you have 10 to 15 seeds saved to be safe.
Step-by-Step Process to Tame Your First Parrot
First, locate a jungle biome. If you’re early in your survival playthrough, you can follow warmer, drier biomes like savannas or deserts until you spot tall jungle trees with cocoa pods growing on their trunks. If you’re further into the game, you can buy a jungle explorer map from a journeyman level cartographer villager to cut down on search time. Once you spot a parrot, sneak while you approach it to avoid scaring it off. If you run straight at it, it will fly up into the treetops and you’ll waste 10 or more minutes chasing it around the biome.
Equip your chosen seeds in your hotbar, and select them so they’re in your hand. Right click (or press the interact button if you’re on console or mobile) on the parrot to feed it a seed. You’ll see gray heart particles pop up at first, which means the parrot is starting to trust you. Each seed has a 1 in 3 chance of successfully taming the parrot, so you might need to feed it 2 to 5 seeds before you see bright red heart particles appear. The red hearts mean the parrot is fully tamed, and will now follow you around just like a tamed wolf or cat.
Right click on the tamed parrot to make it sit if you don’t want it to follow you for a while, like when you’re building a high structure or exploring a dangerous cave system. If you walk through a standing tamed parrot, it will hop onto your shoulder, and you can carry up to two parrots with you anywhere you go, even through nether or end portals.
Key Perks of Owning a Tamed Parrot
Many new players write off parrots as just decorative pets, but they actually have really useful perks that make them worth the trip to the jungle. The biggest benefit is their mimicry ability: parrots will copy the sound of any hostile mob within 20 blocks of you, with a small pitch shift that makes it easy to tell the difference between the parrot’s mimicry and the actual mob. Parrot mimicry acts as an early warning system for hidden creepers, skeletons, or zombies that you might not hear or see coming, especially when you’re mining in dark caves or building near unlit areas. I can’t tell you how many times my parrot’s creeper hiss warning saved me from blowing up my entire base.
Parrots also have tons of fun, low-stakes perks that make the game feel more lively. If you play a music disc near a tamed parrot, it will bob up and down and dance along to the beat, and they’ll even follow you around your base chirping as you work. Some of the most popular ways to use tamed parrots include:
- Bring them on mining trips to alert you to hidden hostile mobs in dark cave systems
- Display them on custom perches around your base for decorative, lively flair
- Bring them to multiplayer servers to show off your rare colored parrot to friends
- Use them as a cute companion for long exploration trips across distant biomes
Unlike tamed wolves or cats, parrots don’t require regular feeding to stay alive once tamed, so you don’t have to worry about keeping a stock of food on hand for them when you leave them at home. They’re extremely low maintenance pets that only require a little bit of care to stay happy.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Tamed Parrots
Even though parrots are low maintenance, there are a few common mistakes that can lead to you losing your feathered companion permanently. First, don’t let your parrot near cactus, lava, or high drops – they’re very clumsy mobs, and will often fly into hazards if you don’t keep an eye on them. If you’re carrying them on your shoulder, they won’t take damage unless you take damage, so that’s the safest way to transport them through dangerous areas like the Nether or the End.
Second, don’t leave them unattended near cats or ocelots. Even fully tamed pet cats will attack parrots on sight, so if you have both types of pets, make sure to keep them separated, or keep your parrot in a locked, enclosed area away from your cats. I learned this the hard way when I brought my first tamed parrot home to my base with 3 tamed cats, and I had to build a separate perch room for the parrot to keep it safe.
Third, don’t hit your parrot by accident! If you hit a tamed parrot, it will fly away and might not come back, even if it’s been your companion for months. I once was swinging my pickaxe at a tree near my base and accidentally hit my blue parrot, and I spent three hours chasing it through the jungle before I managed to feed it enough seeds to get it to follow me home. If you’re going to be working near your parrot, it’s best to make it sit first so it doesn’t wander into your line of sight while you’re mining or building.
Taming a parrot is one of the easiest, most satisfying small goals you can complete in Minecraft survival mode, and it’s well worth the short trip to a jungle biome to grab your own feathered companion. Now that you know how to tame parrot Minecraft, you can grab a stack of wheat seeds, head to the nearest jungle, and bring home a new friend that will keep you safe and entertained for hours. Whether you’re a brand new player who just built their first wooden house, or a veteran player with a fully enchanted netherite set, a tamed parrot is a great addition to any Minecraft world. Just remember to keep those cookies locked away, and you’ll have a happy, chirping companion for all your in-game adventures.