Sunday, April 10, 2011

Blue budgies in the wild: a sad story

From time to time, a blue budgie is born in the wild. So it is possible! And not just blue budgies either; reports during the 18th and 19th century indicate sightings of dark factor, possibly violet factor, opaline and albino budgies.

How does this happen?

Image © Alicia Guzmán Moya
Natural mutations occur just as frequently in the wild as in captivity. Also, there have been reports of escaped budgies in Australia that might have found their way to the wild flocks in and around the Outback. If one of these escaped budgies was a blue budgie, and if he was able to join a flock, he might have had enough time to start a nest with one of the wild budgies.

Do they survive?

No, almost never. The life-threatening circumstances and dangers of the wild can't make a new mutation viable, given that budgies with different appearances caused by mutations stand out and completely lose the protection of "blending in" with the rest of the flock.
They are singled out and killed by predators, as it is easier to keep them in sight.

No hope for blue budgies

Some budgies do stand a chance, though. It is not unusual to find opalines, cinnamon- and greywinged budgies in the wild. You will sometimes even find grey green budgies, as they don't seem to stand out like a blue or a pied budgie would. A flock of thousands of green birds with a blue bird in the middle easily catches the eye of predators, and the hawks head straight for them. On top of that, coloured budgies are often killed by other budgies because of the danger they pose to the rest of the flock.

Image © text.nu
Let's all pamper our sweet blue budgies today, make them feel at home where they are appreciated! Budgies in the wild have no choice but to reject them, for the sake of survival.

8 comments:

  1. *goes downstairs to give Nie-Saai and Neo a hug*

    Great post :) <3

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  2. i saved 2 mating budgies and we have like 10 babies its really cool

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  3. I have a cute green budgie named Barnaby.. he whistles like a canary ... he's pretty good at it as well... does a proper trill. Maybe he is conflicted lololol

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  4. I have a pair of them they don't like to stay in their cage. Eat and sleep with me. They are good talking pet. Love them

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  5. if your budgies sleep in your bed then i hope you dont roll on them

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    1. For sure. I learned the hard way with a pricey conure not to let it sleep with me, regardless of what he wanted.

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