"My Parakeet Knocking Things Down"

Hehe :D

Cuddle Factor

Budgies are small birds, which means you can't pick up and squeeze them against your chest!
Budgies like to "cuddle" in their own special way. When they are tame, they will sit on your shoulder or your head and preen your hair, to show you that they love you. They may even fall asleep on top of you.
Some budgies are "cuddlier" than others. It often depends on how they are raised as a baby and how they've been treated since then. If you spend little time on them, they will treat you equally, like a stranger.

Image © wallpaperscorner.com

Budgies often have a favorite person, and that will be the person they will cuddle with. Experts always suggest that you socialize your budgie when you bring it home so that it will be comfortable when there are other people visiting the house and handling them.
Even then, there is no guarantee that they will like everyone. Some budgies just pick one person to like. You can’t force a budgie to like anyone they don't like, but you can help them to tolerate them.
Often a budgie will not "like" someone because they are able to feel that person's apprehension. Budgies are flattered by sweet, soft words and happy people who are gentle with them. Encourage people to relax when they handle your budgies. If they are really nervous, it might be best for them to wait until they have more confidence.

Image © Handfed Budgies

Fortunately, a bite from this little bird will not likely cause a trip to emergency. But if a budgie doesn't like you, he will make sure to show you!

Information © www.parrot-and-conure-world.com

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.

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

The Budgie Personality

Every budgerigar has its own beautiful personality, but there is one unique characteristic that all budgies have in common: curiosity. I have no doubt you will have seen this in your budgie. When you interact with your budgie, you can tell that he is very curious about what you do, and about all the "weird" things and habits of the human world. It's a positive kind of curiosity, for budgies WANT to find out what's going on around them.
Another characteristic unique to budgies is playfullness. They are most entertained with other budgies as playmates, but it's also important to foster your budgie's playfullness by providing him enough toys. Give him a few hours of free flight every day, because budgies are born explorers!

There is also a "flocking together - spirit" among budgerigars. They are social flock birds. To be part of a budgerigar flock is a very important part in their life. In the wild, almost everything that a budgie does is flock-oriented. Looking for food, eating, drinking, give a signal when there's danger, preening, napping and socializing are all done as one flock. This way, your budgie will completely wither away if you don't give him a budgie friend in his cage. Some budgies even die of loneliness. When you have at least two budgies, it's a good idea to tame them and make them feel that your family is part of his flock: allow the budgie to sit on your shoulder and watch TV with you, and allow him to sit at the table with you. You can give him some healthy pieces of your dinner, which he will nibble on gladly. The budgie will feel that he is part of your flock when you do things together like this. Talk to him, tell him about your day, how you feel and what you dream of. You will find that the budgie is listening to you and that he is even talking back to you, and that the friendship growing between you and the budgie is very rewarding.