Alone is so lonely

"Will my budgie be a more responsive pet if kept alone?"

Photo © The Ottawa Humane Society

This is the title of an article I just read by Frank Indiviglio.

I noticed that the majority of the people voting in the poll on my blog only own one budgerigar. I'm not so pleased with this result. I always thought it's very sad to see a bird alone in a cage, without anyone of their own kind to interact with.  

Most people see a big advantage in this, though: they claim that birds housed alone tend to form a stronger bond with their owner, more so than birds that have other bird companions. There are even owners who decide to give away other budgies in order to make the remaining budgie a "better" pet. In my opinion, this is an act of animal cruelty.

Birds of a feather flock together

Budgerigars in the wild are always together with their flock members. Even in very large flocks, during flight, it is usually quite simple to spot couples. They remain, literally, within touching distance of one another. So never separate your budgie from his or her mate, you don't know how much you are hurting your bird with this.

I further quote: "A great many of the problems experienced by pet parrots are related to their bird being kept alone.  The agitated “dances”, displays and attacks on toys exhibited by solitary birds, and which are found amusing by those unfamiliar with parrot biology, are actually born of frustrated urges to mate and defend a territory.  Several parrot interest groups have now published position statements to the effect that housing a parrot alone is, in most cases, considered by the group to be animal abuse."

Photo © The Ottawa Humane Society

I understand that most people mean it well: they say they can spend more time on their budgie when there is only one of them. But bear in mind that spending a few hours each day with a budgie is still not enough - budgies kept alone need almost constant companionship of a person if that person is to be considered a “substitute” for the missing mate. This is extremely difficult to arrange for most people.

Please think about this if you only have one budgie. Budgies that are alone don't get half as old as the ones that have a budgie companion, to say the least.

Read the full article here:

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatbirdblog/2009/11/03/parrot-bonding-will-my-budgie-be-a-more-responsive-pet-if-kept-alone/

Migration habits of wild budgerigars

I found an excellent article on this online. I added some more information to it in order to make it more complete. Personally, I think this is one of the most interesting topics when it comes to the study of wild budgerigars.

Budgerigars in the U.S.

Wild budgerigars can also be found outside Australia. Image © Free-Extras.com

The wild budgerigar lives in Australia, primarily in desert areas such as scrub lands and grasslands. It can also be found in open, dry woodlands. Although budgerigars are not native to North America, some wild budgerigars can be found in American farmlands and on roadsides. These budgerigars were, or came from, domesticated birds that either escaped or were set free. Florida is one of the locations in the United States where wild, domesticated budgerigars can be found. Adaptations to their habitat by the budgerigars include being able to go without drinking for a month and not breeding if they are living in an area riddled with drought.

Picture © resivanzijl.blogspot.com

Note: domesticated budgies would not survive in Belgium, because the climate is too cold and wet for them during the Winter. Budgies thrive best in warm and dry Summers. But there is a record number (over 10,000) of wild ring necked parakeets settling around the capital city. Their natural habitat is in fact around Northern India, so they don't have a problem with our severe Winters.

Flock spirit

The basic colour of wild budgies is green. The many colour variations are a result of mutations in specific genes.

 Budgerigars are typically found in flocks, other known as chatters. Large flocks can be formed under favorable conditions, such as an abundance of food or breeding females. These flocks can number upwards of 5,000 to 10,000 birds. Flock movement is based on where food and water are available. Competition among budgerigars is typical in flocks for food, water, mates and nesting holes. But it will never come to a deadly conflict.

Flocks of budgerigars are known to withstand many hardships that other flock birds can't survive, such as brackish water, food shortages, extreme temperature changes and a large number of predators. The budgerigars found in wild flocks are strong, adaptive and intelligent, as opposed to the less adaptive birds that get sick and die easily in the extreme conditions in which they live. The most unlucky example of this is a blue budgie born in the wild.

Distance and direction

Budgerigars can fly up to 250 miles in a day to locate food and water. Budgerigars have such excellent eyesight they can sense rainstorms up to 40 miles away. This helps them migrate to areas that have a better potential for water and feeding grounds. Budgerigars typically migrate over vast distances and often in the correct direction, as they always seem to go "straight" to a waterhole or a food source.

Image © gdaywa.com

Opposite of birds in the Americas, Budgerigars in their natural habitat of Australia migrate in a north to south pattern. This means that budgerigar flocks typically fly south in the spring and stay through the summer. In turn, budgerigars fly north in autumn and stay up north through the winter. The locations of migrating budgerigars, and the abundance of the flocks, vary from year to year. The north to south pattern of their migration makes it possible for budgerigars to take advantage of seasonal aridity and rainfall of the inner-Australian region.

Read more: What Are the Migration Habits of Budgerigars? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8127580_migration-habits-budgerigars.html#ixzz1NZhQEp2I

Him or her?

 A male and female budgie go best together. Photo (c) kellynguyen67

You're standing in front of the budgie cage in the pet store, pondering over which budgie you should buy. That lovely blue-white pied female or the pretty seafoam green male with the yellow head. Tough choice!

The best answer is: him AND her!

Budgies are the happiest when a male and female can form a pair. But take it easy, you can't have baby budgies without a good nest box!
Did you know that coconuts were used for nest boxes when budgies were first imported in the UK? Read the full story here.

Budgies can't be kept alone. Budgies in the wild live in huge flocks, and that's the way domesticated budgies want it as well. The more budgies, the merrier! If you want to buy just one budgie, you will have to give it all your attention, but it still won't do. Your bird will always miss a companion of the same kind and will never be really happy as long as there is none. Therefore, a minimum of two budgies is strongly advised.

• If you have a pair of budgies, you will find it a lot easier to study the behaviour of the little parrots. You will discover how the male and female budgie spend their days together, cuddling and flirting and playing. It's a lot more fun for your budgies, but also for you!
• Male budgies can also live together. But it's not very exciting for the birds nor for you. You won't see as much of their true personality, compared to when you have a pair of budgies of the opposite sex (or a whole aviary of them)
• It's wiser not to keep two female budgies together. There is often hostility between females, and you don't want to see them fighting.

Out together, home together

Being part of a flock is very important to wild budgerigars.
If for example one bird takes off to drink, the whole flock will follow.

This is not just because budgerigars love to be together, but it also works as a precaution against possible enemies.

Image (c) tr1307 on flickr.com

The art of flying

Budgies who live in the wild are always on the move - they fly around in huge flocks, often twenty to fifty budgies at once, sometimes even more than one thousand budgies!

The co-ordination among the flying budgies is astonishing. When they have to make a sudden turn, the flock won't give you the impression that it consists of individual birds, but they will fly like one - without any collisions.

Photo: dailymail.co.uk