Comments on: A Lesson Learned

By: wildheartmuse

wildheartmuse — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:51:37 +0000

I live in MA and have been visited by a blue budgie for a week now. I keep my feeders full and he is always here. He seems to have hooked up with the sparrows so I call him “Libby” as in Liberace…..he is so gay and colourful compared to his friends.

I have tried to catch him, cage, net, standing with my hand full of food and chatting sweetly to him…..to no avail. Winter is coming and I wish I could catch him but since I can’t I keep him feed and have put up a larger home made feeder with a roof and three sides so there is shelter…….he likes it in there.

Will keep trying to catch him for his survival but in a way I agree with Kate, he is loving the wild, where he should be. Quality or quantity……is it really my choice?

By: Dwight

Dwight — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:43:31 +0000

For goodness sakes, if you see a parakeet in your yard, pls. try to catch it! Parakeets and other pet birds do not belong in the wild. Their instincts are adapted for their homelands like Australia and South America. Their life experiences are limited to the indoors where the family cat or dog is either friendly or tolerant of them. They have no preparation for dealing with hawks or other animals that can harm them or knowledge of what to do in the event of bad weather. In fact, unless we are talking about a larger parrot, these birds will not survive a winter in the northeast.

If you catch them, you can turn them over to organizations that can find homes for them. If you doubt me about their survivability, I challenge you to ask any specialty bird shop or ornithologist. Setting them free is about as smart as dropping a recovering drug addict off at his dealer’s apartment. In other words, it’s negligent!

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:33:52 +0000

I haven’t seen Budgie for about two weeks. I hadn’t put it together until a day or two ago but a Coopers Hawk began to frequent my neighborhood about two weeks ago. It flies in every morning from the opposite hill, arriving about an hour after dawn. From the way it flies I believe this hawk has a nest about a mile from my house. Hmmm.

By: Patsy

Patsy — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:05:07 +0000

Kate was just scrolling through the blogs and came across the one regarding the Budgie. Have you seen it lately?

By: gloria

gloria — Thu, 28 May 2009 19:02:22 +0000

I put out “wild bird seed” all year long… for the inhabitants of my neighborhood…. usually very early in the morning …. as I walk my dogs every day at 5am… but the resident birds know the drill and the seed is always gone (or near gone) by the time I leave for work.

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:59:01 +0000

I don’t know – but I can tell you that in general birds survive the winter if they have enough to eat. (I wrote about this in January 2008: http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/2008/01/04/coping-with-cold-food/)
I believe Budgie’s bigger threat is predators.

By: gloria

gloria — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:52:51 +0000

Kate: What will happen to her/him when the winter weather comes back to Pittsburgh? Will she be able to survive?

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Thu, 28 May 2009 01:32:04 +0000

Budgie update, Wed evening:
Budgie has gotten over her fear of my yard. When I got home she was chirping from my front yard tree because two house sparrows and starlings were eating a hot dog on the street. She checked it out but wouldn’t eat it.
Around 7:30pm she dozed on the backyard feeder perch and kept sleeping even when the house sparrows came to feed. The house sparrows got into a fight, she woke up, preened and ate. She left at nightfall. Perhaps she roosts with the house sparrows.

By: Kate St. John

Kate St. John — Wed, 27 May 2009 17:10:53 +0000

Budgie update, Wed morning at dawn:
I didn’t see Budgie for more than 24 hours after she was trapped in the cage. I’m not surprised she stayed away for a while. This morning at dawn she came to the feeder – the good old feeder – with a flock of house sparrows. After she ate she left for who knows where.

By: J

Tue, 26 May 2009 18:25:08 +0000

I thinking maybe a lot of the white down was already very loose and just got brushed off while they were being checked over and banded. It seems like they have a lot less white than they did even yesterday. And like Pandi said, judging by the Budgies reaction to being caged, it sounds like she may have been out longer than previously thought.