About the birds, doc. You're telling me! We have 4 birds. A Macaw, Cockatoo, a Rainbow Lorie, and a Quaker Parrot. The two latter are smaller birds and wake up first, normally around 6:30 where they squawk so much that they wake the two larger birds up, who then proceed to scream. This is an everyday occurance. I sleep on the couch, on the same level as them. The downstairs always has tons of...spiders, beetles, you name it! And the upstairs secondary bedroom as two litterboxes for the cats, no thanks.
EDIT: To make it clear, I have no issue with the birds; I just hate waking up to that... :|
Listening to them "talk" is an absolute riot. I'll have to make a recording one day so you guys can enjoy it as well. I don't mean like chirping. Some of the things they say are absolutely hilarious. One instance is how the Macaw (Kiki) randomly makes out the words "****'ing ***hole". It's expected though. A lot of that language occurs around here so the birds tend to pick it up. But hearing them "say" it is just unbearably funny.