Blue budgies in the wild: a sad story

From time to time, a blue budgie is born in the wild. So it is possible! And not just blue budgies either; reports during the 18th and 19th century indicate sightings of dark factor, possibly violet factor, opaline and albino budgies.

How does this happen?

Image © Alicia Guzmán Moya

Natural mutations occur just as frequently in the wild as in captivity. Also, there have been reports of escaped budgies in Australia that might have found their way to the wild flocks in and around the Outback. If one of these escaped budgies was a blue budgie, and if he was able to join a flock, he might have had enough time to start a nest with one of the wild budgies.

Do they survive?

No, almost never. The life-threatening circumstances and dangers of the wild can't make a new mutation viable, given that budgies with different appearances caused by mutations stand out and completely lose the protection of "blending in" with the rest of the flock.
They are singled out and killed by predators, as it is easier to keep them in sight.

No hope for blue budgies

Some budgies do stand a chance, though. It is not unusual to find opalines, cinnamon- and greywinged budgies in the wild. You will sometimes even find grey green budgies, as they don't seem to stand out like a blue or a pied budgie would. A flock of thousands of green birds with a blue bird in the middle easily catches the eye of predators, and the hawks head straight for them. On top of that, coloured budgies are often killed by other budgies because of the danger they pose to the rest of the flock.

Image © text.nu

Let's all pamper our sweet blue budgies today, make them feel at home where they are appreciated! Budgies in the wild have no choice but to reject them, for the sake of survival.

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

Outcasts are welcome

Did you know that budgerigars make excellent foster parents for baby budgies from another nest? Lost baby budgies will always find a warm home in other budgie families.

Image of this very cute baby budgie © http://kookaburrasinourbackyard.blogspot.com/

In the next post, we will hear the story of a very special outcast budgie. He was rejected twice by his mother, because of his very unusual appearance...

New Arrival

Comic © mathew/Meta at meta.ath0.com (click to enlarge)

Crystal clear memory

Never doubt your budgerigar's memory. They are capable of storing a lot of information in there, including facial recognition. They recognize you as their owner, they recognize their flockmates, they will always recognize their soulmate. This sometimes causes problems with breeders who want to put two budgies together that already have a mate. It's not hard to imagine that these budgies will simply refuse to breed. Even when they are separated, they don't want to take a stranger as a mate when they already have perfect memories of their own love!

Image © toriburari.fc2web.com

When a flock member dies, the other budgies will become silent. At first they won't understand why this budgie is gone from them, but they will remember him and they will be sad because he is gone. It is proven that budgies are able to recognize a budgie they know on a picture. Budgies who live together become very attached to each other. Some budgies who lose their mate or their best friend will just wither away like a flower. When you see any sign of this happening, you must do whatever you can to cure their sadness: pamper them, put their cage outside in the sunlight, give them plenty of physical activity (it is important that they keep moving and not sit down on the cage floor), and talk to them. Show them that you care, and that they can't give up on you <3