Secretely Spooky Species

Happy Halloween to all of you!

Can you spot the budgie in the picture? (click on image to embiggen)

Picture © Bird and Moon

Budgies and Regurgitation

Picture © Bokkaku on Deviantart

Regurgitation is a normal part of budgie behavior that shows that your bird is healthy. A budgie that is regurgitating will bob its head and stretch its neck. Regurgitated food is still somewhat intact (it hasn't been entirely digested yet).

Regurgitation may also be a sign of a crop infection, but many happy budgies regurgitate to their favorite toy or person and this is not a sign of any infection. It's their way of showing that they love you!

Important: don't confuse regurgitation with vomiting!

A budgie that is vomiting will spew partially digested food (or other crop contests) at random moments, without having this under control. The food remains often stick to the budgie's head and feathers. Vomiting is not very common among budgies; however, it should always be taken seriously, especially when your budgie vomits more than once. Then you should consult an avian veterinarian as soon as possible. Gastrointestinal disorders, motion sickness (riding in cars), poisoning and anesthesia may cause vomiting.

On a sidenote: Isla vomited several times when she was suffering from a parasite infection. It's often a clear signal that something is wrong. I was told that budgies may also vomit when they're in a stressful situation (for example: when there are conflicts with other budgies in the cage).

Feeding time

It started out with Isla and Frodo...

... then Pixie came along...

... and there is Leonidas! :D

All photos are © me!

More fun in the curtains

Budgies and curtains are a classic... I can only agree :)

Pixie the Acrobat

Yes, they're ruining my curtains... but I don't care! ;-)

Chillin' on the curtain rod... Pixie is SO funny :D

All pictures are © Bika Middag

Autumn has arrived!

Last week it was still remarkably warm for the time of the year (25°C!) so I took the chance to put my budgies outside in the evening. They love it and I know they will miss it during the Winter.

Frodo is such a cutie ^_^

Both photos are (c) me.

Have a nice Sunday evening! ;-)

P.S. today it's actually COLD! Max. 5°C! So the budgies had to stay indoors, but I pampered them with a nice fruit cracker :-)

Picture © Berk on the Penny Arcade Forums

Five Peas in a Pod (video)

These are not budgies, but baby parrotlets... had to share this video because they're SO adorable! ^_^

Can male budgerigars live together?

Photo © Propero on tumblr

ANSWER: YES

Male budgerigars can become best friends, even when they live together in the same cage. This is a good solution for owners who are not interested in breeding birds. Remember that two budgerigars is always better than one.

BUT:

• From the moment you add a female budgie to their home, your male budgies might turn into the worst enemies, and they can start fighting over the attention of the female bird. There always has to be a certain balance within the flock. As a consequence, you would need two female budgies for two male budgies.
• Make sure that your male budgies have enough food and space in the cage. They don't always like to share their belongings.
• Make sure that the budgies are properly introduced to each other first. Some birds are more territorial than others. So it's best to keep both budgies in a separate cage for a while, so they can get to know each other between the bars before you put them together. Unless they're trying to bite each other through the bars, it should be safe to put them together.
  
  

Photo © KlomZy on deviantart

 Another tip: the younger your birds are, the bigger the chances of them getting along!

My budgies' new favorite spot

Erlend sent me this picture while I was at work... my budgies are crazy :D

Photo © Erlend Alvestad

Budgie of the Month: Budgerigar the Yellow ("Budge")

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

Budge came to us when he was 3 months old. He was our first experience with keeping birds, and the reason we’ve both converted to bird-only people. For a little over a year he was our only budgie, and over a period of 6-8 months we hand tamed him and he tamed us, and we taught each other games and tricks. 

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

He loves to come into the shower with us, especially if Steve is there with his beard to nibble on. He’s afraid of nearly everything, unless his plastic traffic light toy is nearby. For some reason, that little $2 toy gives him all the courage you could ever hope to see in a bird.

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

He will sit and sing to himself for hours at a mirror, or to his reflection in a piece of chrome, or his shadow on the wall, or to the remote control… you get the idea. 

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

When he’s in the mood for scritches, he’ll let you ruffle all the feathers around his beak and give him a good head scritch. If you’re especially lucky, he’ll groom your ‘stache and eyebrows, and if you’re brave enough, he’ll groom your eyelashes (it tickles!)

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

If we’ve slept too long, he’ll do fly-bys over our heads, low enough to ruffle our hair across our faces. If that doesn’t work, he’ll keep at it, adding piercing screeches to the mix as he dive bombs. Once we get up, he usually goes back to sleep. He can be a bit of a dick like that.

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

His favourite foods are backyard grasses, kale and spinach, navel oranges, and celery leaves. He refuses to touch anything red or purple.

Photo © The Northern Wildlings

Story © The Northern Wildlings

Blog update and some pictures

Hi everyone,

It's been a busy week again... on Monday, I took the budgies to the avian vet for a checkup. Luckily, they are all fit and healthy! Yesterday I went to a birthday party and today I studied Norwegian for 4 hours or something, so I'm feeling pretty tired :-)

As for the blog update: I'm planning to experience a bit with the blog layout, so don't be scared if you suddenly don't recognize the blog anymore, it will still contain the same information and pictures ;-)

I also have an idea to start a new blog on tumblr, which will be about budgies and birds in general, but I still have to think it out :-)

Here are some recent pictures of our little budgie family. The Autumn chill has started to set in here in Belgium, so I keep my birds inside for now so that they don't catch a cold. Hope you all had a nice weekend!

Bika.

My budgies exploring the armchair :)

Leonidas and Pixie getting hand tame :)

The Bird Dance (video)

I don't know if I have shared this video yet... but I have to do it again now!! :)