How do I teach my budgie to stop screeching

I have a budgie that is almost two years old. He recently strated this very high pitched screech that I have never heard before and he does it only when my husband or I are out of his sight range. We don't even have to leave the room and he starts. It is very annoying and since we live in an apartment I am worried people will start to complain. We can hear him out by our car when we are leaving and we live on the third floor. He has never done this before and it is driving us insane, we have been ingnoring him and only coming back into his sight when he stops screeching but it is so incessant sometimes it takes up to an hour before we can go back in the room. It is really driving us insane and I dont want to give him away, but he is making it very uncomfortable for us to be at home and straightening up or doing ANYTHING that doesnt involve sitting in the living room with him and watching TV. PLEASE HELP!

I agree with "escpthem." to a certain extent. It's very likely that your budgie is lonely and is calling to you, its "flock". My Maximilian Pionus started doing that when I got sick and started spending a lot of time in bed, away from his cage.

However, with some patience, it is usually possible to teach a bird to stop screaming. Important note: when the bird starts screaming, DO NOT SCREAM BACK. Birds love drama. If you start yelling, the bird thinks, "Oh good, we're all yelling now! Fun! I can do that!" Take a dark-colored towel that is bigger than the bird's cage and cover the cage with it so that it's completely dark in the cage. As you're doing it, say once, firmly but kindly, "No yelling." Leave the room for five minutes and turn off any noise-making devices in the room. Uncover the bird after five minutes of quiet and praise it for being quiet. If it starts to scream again, do the same thing again. It will take a few days for the bird to figure it out, and that will be tiring for you for a while, but after that, you should just be able to say, "No yelling," or show it the towel, and the bird will quiet down.