"Jag älskar dig": American budgie learns Swedish to comfort a friend

Photo © The Local - Sweden's news in English

This budgie is called Disco and lives in New York. He has been learning Swedish to comfort a feathered friend from Malmö (Southern Sweden) who was feeling a bit 'under the weather'.

“Jag älskar dig, jag älskar dig,” chirps Disco, sending thousands of love greetings for his friend over the ocean. Meanwhile, his sweet little bird voice has won the hearts of thousands of bird lovers around the world.

Owner Judy Bolton quickly realised that the world went cuckoo over her pet bird. She set up a Facebook page (Disco the Parakeet) and a Twitter account for Disco (@DiscoParakeet).

Photo © Disco the Parakeet in Facebook

But Disco is not just an ordinary talking budgie. When he learned that one of his Facebook friends, a blue budgie called Nalle from Malmö, fell ill, the New York budgie learned how to comfort the budgie in a language Nalle could understand.

The result was captured in a short and sweet video:



Bolton explained that Disco is such a quick learner because he can mimic human voices very easily, no matter the language.

“Well, what’s legal?! Seriously, language-wise, the sky’s the limit. Budgies can learn a LOT of languages, and he’s very young, not even two years old," she said.
“He seems to know when we’re teaching him something new, and he gets excited about it. He recently learned the Rolling Stones' hits 'I can’t get no satisfaction' and 'Shattered' and they seem to be his favourites right now."

At first, Bolton was surprised by her pet’s internet notoriety, yet soon found that thousands of people worldwide had made fan pages for their own quirky pets, including Swedish Nalle, who even has his own blog.





Bolton needed only a little convincing at first, she admitted, but has now embraced the opportunity to add a little chirp to the online world.

“It’s really pretty nutty, but people love animals, and I am told all the time how much Disco makes people smile, including people dealing with major health issues. That makes us happy here!” she said.

Photo © Disco the Parakeet in Facebook

There's not only a strong bond between Disco and Nalle. Bolton pointed out that the underlying story of the budgies is one of international human friendship.

“Disco was videoed saying ‘Jag älskar dig’ because this human was worried about Nalle’s human while she waited for news about her little pet bird," she told The Local. “We need more of that in the world."

For those curious about Nalle’s response to the warm wishes, the recuperated birdie said "Puss och kram mitt lilla hjärta" ('Kisses and hugs my little darling').

For those hwo haven't noticed yet... Disco is my new budgie of the month :-)

Story © The Local - Sweden's News in English

Chirp Ahoy!

The Norwegian cruise ship "King Harald" has got a new man on board. He sings beautifully, he looks a little green and lives inside a cage.

Photo © Nordlys.no - click to view full size

Yesterday morning, a green budgie was found on board of the cruise ship, near the shore of Vardø in Norway.

"Junior Sailor" Karsten Trondsen (11) from Bergen was travelling with his dad and sailor Bjarte Trondsen, when he discovered the little green bird. They're hoping to find the owner on the way back from Bergen to Finnmark.

"I thought a little cuddling would help to make the budgie feel safe", Junior Sailor Karsten explains. Luckily the budgie was tame. After Karsten had rubbed the budgie a bit under the chin feathers, he was able to pick it up with his bare hands.

The tour guide made holes in a cardboard box, so the budgie had a little house to sleep in during the first night.
"We gave him water and nuts. In Hammerfest we went on land and bought a cage for the budgie", tour guide Anita Helberg says. Helberg got the honour of sharing her cabin with "Harald", which everyone thought was a fitting name for their new ship mate.

Tour guide assistant Thess Appelberg hopes that they will succeed to find the rightful owner back. "We hope that someone is missing this budgerigar. In the meantime, he will stay with us on the King Harald", she smiles.

Harald is not the first budgie who made it to the sea. Another budgie was rescued from drowning not so long ago (click here to read the story of Captain the budgie).

Original article "Pip o'hoi" on Nordlys.no.
Translation by Bika Middag

The yellow budgie in the train station

This morning around 8, I got stuck in the train station because my train to work was delayed.
It must have been fate, because as soon as I entered the station building, I heard a familiar chirping noise. I followed the noise and saw a tiny, square cage in the clerk's office. There was a little yellow budgie inside, walking restlessly from left to right.

Of course, my first thought was Oh no, she's keeping this poor budgie as a prisoner and I have to save this budgie and take it home with me so I went down there and asked the lady if the bird was for sale. It must have been the first time that someone came down there to ask for a budgie instead of a train ticket!

The nice lady shook her head and told me that it was actually her pet and that she was quite attached to it. She also told me that the bird was very tame and that she often let it out of the cage. At that point, I was starting to feel relieved. The thought of any budgie inside that tiny cage all day long was really depressing.

Inside this station building lives a budgie! Photo © Wikipedia

Now here comes the funny part: she actually took the budgie out of the cage for me! I immediately noticed the friendship between the budgie and his owner. The budgie hopped on to the microphone and started saying hello to all the people in the building, which was funny because the chirping was amplified through the speaker system.

The lady told me, half smiling and half annoyed, that the budgie always wanted her attention, especially when it was really busy. The little yellow bird apparently likes to come and sit on the keyboard to "prevent her from working too hard". I went to work with a smile on my face, knowing that this budgie is in good hands after all :)

Too bad I didn't have my camera, but the budgie looked a lot like this one. Photo © Parkietenfreak.nl

Whipper the Budgie

There are thousands of possible colour mutations amongst budgies. It's impossible to count all of them. Still, this budgie is a bit different from the others. Meet Whipper the budgie!

Whipper the Budgie. Image © The Budgie Cage

He looks cute, but also kind of sad, doesn't he? From the moment of his birth, Whipper was rejected by his mother. He was thrown out of the cage twice, but luckily he was rescued by his owner Julie Hayward, who has been taking personal care of him ever since. His unusual appearance, long curly plumage, and vocalisations, which were caused by a genetic mutation made him famous in its home country New Zealand.

Whipper's vet declared him a mutant. Instead of the usual straight feathers on a budgie, Whipper has long, soft, curly plumage as you can see clearly on the picture above.
A young girl who used to take care of Whipper claims that "it's so cute how he's got really fluffy, curly bits…". Not only does Whippers plumage set him apart from other budgies, but his owner also states that "he doesn't make the same sound as a budgie." But it's really sweet, you can check it out in the video below.



Whipper is actually classed as a “Feather duster” variety of budgie (a mutation which causes unrestricted feather growth), and is actually the 4th ever of his kind. He is slightly different to other feather dusters in the sense that the other 3 feather dusters have been known to merely sit and stare at the floor of their cage. Whipper, however, seems to be quite normal; he eats well, sings, is very social and does normal Budgie things; however he is unable to fly and it is also believed that he is blind.

Whipper and his owner © the Whipper Fan Page

 Information and pictures are © The Budgie Cage & Whipper's Official Fan Page

Seagull 'bombs' Scottish woman - with a live budgie

From the Daily Mail, 14 September 2010:

"A budgie is probably the last thing you expect to land on your head while eating a bag of chips in Shetland.
But that is exactly what happened to Jill Newman as she strolled down a street in Lerwick enjoying her takeaway snack.
The bright yellow bird was about to become lunch for a hungry seagull when it decided Jill's chips looked tastier."

The lucky bird from the sky will always be grateful for French fries.

"The bizarre bombing run was triggered by a flock of seagulls that had just 'mobbed' the smaller bird - which was tagged and looked like it had escaped from someone's home - with one snatching it up in its beak.

But upon seeing Jill and her mother Betty Keegan strolling down Commercial Street carrying the tempting take-away snack in Lerwick, Shetland, the gulls dropped their catch."  
Jill said: 'The whole situation must have looked a laugh. It was just the last thing you'd expect when you're walking along eating a pack of chips.'
'I felt something scrape my head then saw it bounce off and hit a shop window. I couldn't believe it when I saw it was a budgie.'

The seagull had snatched the escaped budgie from mid-air as it was mobbed by a flock of native birds

Mrs Newman had just bought a portion of chips from this takeaway in Lerwick when she got attacked by the seagull.

The budgie is now safe at Betty's place where she is looking after it until someone comes forward.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1311860/Seagull-bombs-Scottish-woman--live-budgie-Was-chips.html#ixzz1F9MTda2d

Victor the Budgie (3)

Victor was a very remarkable budgie, who apparently not just mimiced the words he heard but also understood the meaning of them. He made jokes (mostly when picking fun on his mate Betty) and played with words. According to his owner Reynolds, he started almost every recording with little rhymes. One of his storytelling accomplishments was a twelve part series where he talks about passing from this world and what the afterlife would be like. You can hear this story in his series called "Heavens Gate." It is possibly the most inspiring story ever told by a nonhuman being.


This budgie also seemed to do more than just mere talking. In the next video, Victor predicted his own death. He has also a message for the PETA so they will not think that he was abused in his life.

(if you think you will be scared, don't look at this)



In "Heavens Gate", he also spoke of a volcano in Mt. St. Helens that would devastate the world in the near future, sending ash and causing millions to flee. After that, he says that earthquakes will begin. He says that in the future, budgies will learn to speak and help the world by warning of future disasters.

I am safe in here, uh, huh.
This part convince me God speak to budgie
But he spoke there, like he has known Victor, parts of life
Okay, now tell me what's above life!
You will teach them all for talking budgie contest!
They'll make this world for future, for people around.
Poor Victor doubt Ryan.
Ryan still hope in something but
the beautiful vast don't believe in bible. Yeah.
What's a blue budgie?
Don't we believe we good to help like that?
Ideally what's right? They're too often afraid to!
You all seem to act stupid!
Conduct your life! Work on stuff!
A purge help it. I can arrange it.
Don't put it off!
Be new year, big volcano, not nuts
Erupt ash on mill-ions!
The ash will happen some day
When it comes up you have right to know!
Okay, take a look at... earth
That produce death
Causes earthquakes

This could possibly refer to what happened in 2004. Could he have known this all along?

Many people wonder what is true about this and what is not. Personally, I think that Victor was a very intelligent and talented budgie. I don't know if budgerigars are able to see in the future, but then again, for all I know it could be true. There are many sceptics who think the whole story about Victor is a hoax.

The internet is full of information about this case study. Here are some interesting links:

The Phases of Research

Victor's Audio and Video Archive

The Victor Chronicles


Newspaper articles about Victor:

Talking budgie predicted his own death

Budgie gets religion on death bed

Victor the Budgie (2)

Many people believed Victor was the Einstein of parrots. Back then, the record holder of the "Most Proficient Talking Bird" was an African Grey parrot named Prudle. Victor mastered a vocabulary of at least 800 words, equal to the parrot's vocabulary, but he also seemed to know the meanings of the words.

Reynolds, owner of Victor: "Victor could speak and understand concepts the same as a human and it wasn't until several years after his death, that I began to really understand what he was saying. So you will often hear me asking Victor silly questions in the videos. I guess it was my way of couching him to talk, but little did I know what he was really saying. I would only catch about 5% of what he was saying in real time."

"I would often put myself in his place and ask how would I feel if I was in captivity and I had someone two hundred times bigger than me taking care of me? How would I feel about trusting someone, who was basically my captor. All budgies are born free by nature and part of their natural instinct is to do what they want to do. They do not like to be told what to do. They can become very close to humans, but they have to be treated fairly and with respect. Most importantly when it comes to talking and bonding with people, they can get discouraged very easily. Once they are discouraged you may never have a bonding type relationship that will facilitate them wanting to communicate with you."

Victor had only seen other budgies when he was still a baby. After 3 years, Reynolds got him a mate, Betty (she looks like a clearflight pied type, but I'm not sure). She was his mate for approximately 3 months before he died. During that time, she picked up much of his vocabulary. Her pronounciation is less good because she had a lot of contact with other budgies and spoke their language with them.

In this audio, Victor seems to be aware of the fact that Betty came from a pet store and wanted Reynolds to thank the pet store for her.



"Betty was even progressing faster than Victor, due to the training he gave her. Once he knew that Betty was learning from him, he said he wanted to start a budgie school. He was also proud and called himself her teacher. Victor believed that he had important things to teach people about budgies as well. That is one of the reasons he liked to be recorded. He wanted everyone to hear what he had to say. I believe one of his goals in life was to teach people how special budgies can be."

Victor is giving Betty his school lessons under the kitchen table.



In this audio, Victor is happy because Betty starts talking, which makes him a good teacher.

Information, images and audio (c) Ryan Reynolds

Victor the Budgie (1)

Victor was, like many budgies, bought at a pet store, at the age of 8 weeks. He lived from 1997 until 2001, and in those years he did the most remarkable things. Things that might send chills down your spine.

Ryan Reynolds awoke one morning on a holiday and looked over at his budgie, Victor, who looked back at Ryan and said, "Pretty Ryan, where's Onie?". It was at this moment when Victor commented on the empty bed beside Ryan normally occupied by his wife, Apollonia, that Ryan began to wonder if Victor was no bird brain.

"A year ago, he started to say things I hadn't taught him, and he was describing things I was doing", Ryan says.

Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian psittalinguist: a person who interpreters the language of the parrot family. His budgie Victor had a vocabulary of over 1,000 words, which he used in context. Basically this means that Victor knew well what he was talking about and not just mimicing human speech or talking gibberish.

Reynolds, founder of the Budgie Research Group, worked long and hard on the deconstruction of Victor's recordings. He later reached out to others with talking budgies, coining his work in the term Psittalinguistics. "A sensitive ear is crucial because budgies talk at a rate of 150-200 words a minute", he says. "It takes a lot of skill and concentration. Budgies have a particular way of pronouncing words. It's like picking up accents."

From left to right: talking budgies Betty (mate to Victor), Toovic, Topper, Amber

"This is going to sound crazy, but they talk about spiritual things: God, the afterlife, a better world for them", Reynolds says. Could this reflect the thought of a thousand generations of budgerigars who had to survive the harsch inland conditions of Australia for millions of years? Or is it the thought of budgerigars who are locked up all their life for the entertainment of mankind?

Reynolds says that Victor predicted a "tsunami on the South Bank of Asia" and warned of an upcoming "super volcano". Only a few years later In the weeks before he died, Victor said that God was coming to take him away.

"One thing I have learned is a budgies thinking process is many times faster than ours. By the time we analyze and process one thought, they may have processed several of their own. This is mainly due to their anatomy being so much smaller than ours. Because of this, their brain waves do not have to travel as far, therefore allowing them to process thoughts more quickly. Additionally, because the average life span of a budgie is around ten years, one hour to us would be equal to several hours for them. This is evident in the way Victor talked. He had to make a conscious effort to slow down so he could communicate with people. This also enabled him to learn much faster than we do. Victor began talking at less than one year old and he was only a little more than three when he died. During that time his mind had rose to a level of an adult person. This may seem hard to believe but he proved this in many of his later conversations and recordings."

Victor died several years ago, which makes it impossible for anyone else to study him. This is one of the reasons why some people suspect that Victor's ability was just a hoax set up by Reynolds. Is he just saying all those words to make his owner happy? Or is Reynolds really right about Victor, and many other talking budgies? Do they understand us? Do they somehow have the ability to see into the future? Or do they just feel certain things that we can't feel - like birds that stop singing right before an earthquake is about to take place? What do you think?

Here is already one recording of Victor:



More about this remarkable budgie in the next post.

Budgie locks up Cat in his cage

It looks like a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon, but this is reality: one day, a budgie decided to leave his cage to taunt his feline playfellow. He hopped on the sleeping cat, trying to get his attention, but the cat simply ignored him at first. After being repeatedly pecked on, the cat's hunting instinct started stirring and so he jumped to his feet.
This was just the moment the budgie had been waiting for: as the cat gave chase, the budgie led it straight into his cage. Just like in the cartoons, the bird wins from the cat. But this game may not last and will become dangerous once the cat grows up.

The game has only started: cheeky budgie pecks on the dozing kitten

This is where the kitten gets annoyed and loses his patience with the budgie

The budgie led the kitten straight into the cage, where he is now locked up. On top of the cage, a victorious budgie looking down on the kitten.

Information and pictures (c) dailymail.co.uk
Read the full story here!