For those of you following the budgie saga, here’s a new development.
The blue budgie who’s been visiting my backyard feeder since last Monday has shown improvement in the past week. She’s gotten better at flying and is well fed enough that she doesn’t spend all day with her beak in the trough.
She’s expanding her range (I saw her foraging at the end of my street) and she feels good enough to be bossy about my feeder (it’s hers now).
Budgie is still less attuned to danger than the wild birds and tends to hang out with their fledglings. They ask each other if there’s any reason to be worried about danger. None of them can think of a reason so they sit and wonder why all the other birds have left.
Under the circumstances Budgie’s life is likely to be pretty short in the wild, so many of you posted suggestions on how to capture her. I liked the idea of hanging a bird cage in place of the feeder. Voila! Veronica Snyder loaned me a bird cage and offered to take Budgie if I can capture her.
When I brought the bird cage home, Budgie was perched on a branch above the feeder. I talked to her as I brought the cage to the base of the tree and she watched with interest as I prepared to hang it. I had to take the feeder down and it involved some banging – so she flew – but I was encouraged that she was trusting enough to stay and watch as long as she did.
Now that the cage has replaced the feeder I’ve seen several birds fly by wondering how to get to the seed inside. I think budgie will be the first to figure it out. Will I be there to see it? Will she let me close the door? Stay tuned for details.
(photo of “the Budgie trap” by Kate St. John)
If you have trouble getting Budgie inside the cage, try hanging some spray millet inside. It is easily obtained from pet stores, Wal-Mart, and the like. (If you have a Pet Supplies Plus, you can purchase them by the stalk). It is easy to hang such things in the cage by using a binder clip. All of my parrot-family cage birds act toward spray millet as many of us do to rich, dark hot fudge!
Good luck!
If you have a friend who has a budgie and would be willing to: they can set their bird cage outside your door with their bird inside it. It may peek the curiosity of the budgie you are trying to rescue. My in-law’s love bird got out once and flew right to my cockatiel’s cage while we were sitting outside on the porch.