Bathing feels better in open space

Photo © We Love Budgies on tumblr

At least that's what my experience is telling me. My budgies have a bath similar to the one in the picture, but with a plastic part covering it so it can hang at the cage door. I noticed that my budgies only go there to drink from the water, perhaps because it's a confined space just like a drinking tray.

The one time they bathed (by accident!) is because Erlend had put a water plate on top of the book case, where they are often resting. Frodo became curious about it and hopped on top of the plate. He looked into the water and started to slide into the water and he didn't have a clue of what was happening!

It's true that not all budgies like bathing, but most of them really do. That's why I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to take off the plastic cover of the budgie bath right now and fill the other part with water... let's see if they go for it this time!

Budgie Vision (4)

I would like to add something to the budgerigar vision series: the simple fact that budgies have monocular vision. Basically, this means they can use each eye independently!

Because of monocular vision, budgerigars have a wide field of view. Photo © nkj.ru

By using their eyes this way, their field of view is increased, as opposed by binocular vision where you use both your eyes at the same time. In case you tried to use both your eyes separately, you will probably know that humans have binocular vision ;)

A budgerigar's eyes are positioned on opposite sides of their head, giving it the ability to see two objects at once - or two predators, coming from different angles. This is a big advantage in the wild.

Other posts in this series:
Budgie Vision (3)
Budgie Vision (2)
Budgie Vision (1)

How many feathers has a budgie on its body?

What do you think?

A) 100 - 200
B) 1,000 - 2,000
C) 2,000 - 3,000
D) More than 5,000

I'll start by saying that the average number of hairs on a person's head is about 100,000. Most people shed between 50 and 100 hairs daily. According to estimates, the average person has about 5 million hairs on their body, varying slightly per different hair color.

Image © lib.rus.ec/b/180824

Now, if you guessed answer C for budgies, you are correct! A full-grown budgie has between 2,000 and 3,000 feathers on its body. Isn't that amazing for such a little bird? I don't know if certain color types or mutations have more feathers than others, but I suppose that goes for Whipper the Budgie.

Do budgies smell bad?

Many people are curious if a pet budgie smells. In a way, it's the same as asking if a dog or a cat smells. If you never give your pet the opportunity to wash, then of course it will be smelly.

Photo © Bird A Day Blog

In general, budgies do not smell at all. They are among the cleanest creatures on the planet. Even their poop doesn't smell. Budgies prefer to take a bath every day. They preen themselves until their feathers shine. They don't go outside and roll in the mud, so they mostly preen themselves to remove dust particles from their skin.

What people think their budgie smells like:

In general, people think their budgie has a sweet, lovely scent of its own. Depending on what you feed your bird, it might have broccoli breath (then you have a BBB, or "Broccoli Breath Budgie") or apple breath, but never anything serious because you can't feed them garlic or fish.

Most people also seem to think that budgies smell like (creamed) corn!

Other people think budgies smell like:

• laundry that has dried in the fresh air
• something hard-to-describe between lavender and freshly-cut green plants
• warm, fresh and musky
• chocolate
• cucumbers
• cereals
• rose petals
• seeds
• honey
• not really anything, they are practically smell-free

Conclusion: it's clear that budgies have some kind of sweet aroma, especially when they are dry (some people say they smell a bit funky when they're wet) and have been outside in the open air. A lot of people admitted they love to smell their budgies. Too bad we can't get some Eau de Budgie in the store :)

Personally, I think they smell a bit like warm pancakes. What do you think?

Light as a feather

Did you know that...

Image © Foxlow Snapper on Flickr

... a newborn baby budgie only weighs two grams?

One of the only things that weigh less in the world, is a dollar bill (1 gram)
The average weight of a full-grown budgie is 42 grams.

How much do all my budgies weigh together?

Image © fugleredens.dk

Question of the day (asked by Erlend, my fiancé)

"If you put all your budgies together, how much would they actually weigh?"

Answer: consider that a grown budgie weighs 40 grams, and that we have about 20 budgies. They would weigh 800 grams together! Imagine how light they are! It's good that my arm weighs more than that, so they can all sit on it together ^_^