Uncover The Fascinating World Of Budgies!

Get ready to be amazed by the remarkable universe of budgies with our article: “10 Mind-Blowing Budgie Facts That Will Impress Your Friends!”

These delightful feathered friends have a treasure trove of secrets that will leave you awe-struck and ready to share your newfound knowledge with everyone you know!

From their captivating behaviors to their unique characteristics, we’re about to dive headfirst into the enchanting world of budgies.

So, buckle up, bird lovers, and prepare to be blown away by the incredible facts that make budgies one of the most captivating and charismatic pets around!

Each budgie is born with a unique personality. And so, even budgies from the same clutch behave differently in their everyday life. 

This doesn’t just mean that one budgie will like eating carrots more than apples. Rather, one budgie may be introverted and prefer sitting in silence. But its sibling may be a ‘loud’ social butterfly that chirps all the time. 

Similarly, a budgie may enjoy your gentle attention by simply letting you observe it inside the cage. But another budgie may not be satisfied until you run around the house with that bird on your shoulder.

I take it that most humans won’t mind letting a budgie walk all over them. After all, a budgie is barely 7 inches tall and weighs some 35g. 

But it’s mesmerizing how something that can fit the palm of a human hand would be bold enough to dominate a ‘Hooman’. 

Of course, this fact will not surprise you at all if you’ve been raising budgies for quite some time now. But this never fails to shock new budgie keepers. 

It’s probably because most people assume that all birds behave the same way.

 

Now, I’m not saying that a budgie is as eloquent as Barack Obama. But if Birds were running for elections; Budgies would certainly ‘smooth talk’ their way to Presidency. So,

For a bird, budgies are excellent communicators with great memories.

They not only mimic human speech but also use their body language to convey their needs. In fact, the Guinness record for a bird knowing the most vocabulary belongs to ‘Puck’ – a budgie that could speak 1728 words.

Aside from words, budgies can also remember locations, faces, and new tricks. That’s why they’ve unique reactions to different people in different places. Also, budgies can solve various puzzles, especially if there’s food involved. 

All this is surprising because a budgie’s brain weighs only about 1.3 g.

Ornithologists think that budgies are so good at all this because their brains have special ‘reserved nerve endings’ – just to memorize stuff. But even they are astonished at how such a small brain can function so well. 

This is precisely why every time a budgie learns to speak, it makes the news highlights. This was true for a budgie named ‘Sparkie’ who could sing nursery rhymes. And then, the bird sold some thousands of records. 

But ‘Disco’ may be a more famous budgie as it was featured in several documentaries.

 

Unlike humans, budgies have special retinal cells that can detect ultraviolet (UV) light. That means your budgie can see a lot more colors than you do.

So, everything you see will be more colorful, vivid, and bright to your budgie.

Of course, budgies use this ability to spot ripe fruits in their natural habitat. But this also helps them choose an appropriate mate. It’s because budgie feathers reflect lights at specific angles. And so, each bird has a distinct UV pattern on its feathers. 

But male budgies also show striking UV markings on their ceres. Studies have shown that female budgies prefer males with more stark UV markings.

However, you don’t really need UV vision to tell male budgies apart from female birds. This brings us to the next fact on the list:

 

Ever wonder who suggested that blue is for boys and pink is for girls? 

Historians might tell you a story of how the trend began with some capitalist retailers in the late 1940s. But I wonder if it may just have been inspired by a budgie.

You see, young budgies of 3-4 months of age don’t show any gender-specific marks. But as a budgie matures, the color of its white cere also changes.

And so, adult male budgies have either blue or violet ceres.

Meanwhile, female budgies may have pinkish, brown, or pale blue ceres.

That said, male budgies are generally cheery, gentle, and talkative birds. In contrast, female budgies are usually more introverted and can be pretty dominating. 

But this is a general observation that may not be true for all budgies.

 

Like other parrots, budgies also have four toes arranged in zygodactyl feet. It means that a budgie’s first and fourth toes face backward while the second and third toe face forward.

This gives a budgie ‘perfect footing’ to climb and perch on trees. It also enables them to walk on both narrow and broad tree branches to explore new feeding sites.

Also, the budgie can easily move its toes to manipulate seeds while eating.

In fact, the budgies can easily use their flexible toes to solve various food puzzles. And so, budgie’s feet kinda make them ideal playmates for human companions.

Finally, the budgies also use their feet to change the direction of their flight mid-air. This involves moving each toe at a slightly different angle. This allows the budgies to swiftly move, even when flying at speeds exceeding 55 miles/hour.

 

On average, most birders only keep as many as five pet budgies at a time. But wild budgies can live in flocks of hundreds of birds which has many advantages. 

For instance, flock members help each other locate food and water. Also, they warn each other in the presence of a predator.

Since budgie flocks engage in communal roosting where hundreds of birds sleep together. So, flock members also keep each other warm, especially when sleeping in desert surroundings.

Finally, budgies are very social birds. And so, living with hundreds of other parrots means that they’ll have plenty of opportunities to socialize. This also helps them find potential mates.

However, if you do see such a flock, you’ll soon realize that all wild budgies are only ever yellow and green.

This brings us to the next fact on the list:

 

Wild budgies only exist in the green-yellow palette.

And so, all other budgie color varieties are present only in domestic budgies.

This doesn’t mean that your blue feathery friend is wearing some artificial paint.

Rather, 

Budgie color variations are the fascinating outcome of human-guided breeding.

So far, there’re 32 primary color varieties of budgies.

But, a combination of all these has resulted in hundreds of different colored budgies.

In fact, it has come to a point where classifying these colored budgies has become a bit difficult.

But breeders still try to describe them in categories by using ‘basic colors’.

Well, I can also try to give you a quick review of these. 

Say, most budgies will either have a yellow or white base color.

If the entire bird happens to be solid yellow without any patterns then that budgie will be called a ‘Lutino’.

But if a bird turns out to be purely white, then it will be called an ‘Albino’.

However, most budgies are not solid-colored but a combination of colors. 

Now, most yellow-base budgies have a green tinge.

Depending on how dark it looks the bird will be called light green, dark green, or olive. 

In contrast, a white base budgie usually comes with blue hues.

And so, depending on how dark the blue is; the budgie will be called sky blue, cobalt, or mauve. 

Other colors like grey, black, pink, or orange appear as spots on these basic colors.

Meanwhile, some budgies are more violet than blue. Similarly, budgies may vary in the type of stripes or their patterns. 

 

Just as you get the urge to yawn every time you see someone else ‘yawn’; budgies do the same.

So, if a budgie sees its fellow budgie yawn, it will instinctively do the same.

This was confirmed in a recent study conducted at the State University of New York.

The budgies were shown ‘yawning bird videos’ and they responded by yawning back.

Surely, watching budgies yawn at one another is a ‘cute’ and funny fact.

But then, bird scientists think it’s a wonderful reality for other reasons.

Firstly, yawning at each other means that a bird is trying to mirror body language.

Or say, a budgie may have tendencies to show empathy.

Secondly, only chimpanzees, dogs, and Sprangue-Dawley mice have shown contagious yawning.

In other words, it’s pretty rare for any animal to yawn, much more for a bird.

So, this does make budgies pretty special birds with the ability to mirror emotions.

 

Young budgies aged 3-4 months have distinctive striped caps on their heads.

These bars extend from their heads to their ceres, creating a striking visual.

As the budgie goes through its first molt, the striped cap is replaced with solid feathers.

Since it’s very hard to tell a budgie’s age once it has its first molt.

So, budgies with striped caps are often sold at higher prices compared to old budgies. 

It’s because baby budgies are much easier to tame than adult mature birds.

But in rare cases, the baby budgie may not have any striped cap – despite not having its first molt yet.

This happens among albino or lutino budgies that are born in one solid color and have no striped markings.

That said, budgies have patterns on their backs and feathers that change with each molt.

But these never completely vanish as striped caps do.

 

If you’ve raised baby budgies before, then you must be familiar with the budgie nesting box. (You can check out our article – Baby Parakeets – Where we talk about everything you need to know about baby budgies) 

Normally, it’s a wooden box lined with wood shavings or cat litter.

The box has a small hole on one side to let parent budgies enter and leave at their will.

Of course, the lid on top is just so it’s easy for you to clean it.

But ever wonder where the wild budgies build their nests?

Well, the wild budgies are opportunistic breeders that don’t breed until there’re plenty of resources available, and they find a perfect tree hollow.

Some budgies gnaw at wood to make this tree hollow more comfortable.

But most budgies are minimalistic parents that don’t bother to put anything soft inside.

This debunks the common idea that soft budgies would make soft nests.

Anyways,

Technically, all wild and domestic budgies lay their eggs in wooden nests.

There’re several other mesmerizing budgie facts.

For example, an adult budgie has about 3000 feathers on its body.

Or, the fact that budgies have monocular vision which means they can focus on two different locations at one given time. 

Or perhaps, the fact that budgies live with hollow bones as air pockets make them lightweight.

Personally, I find it hilarious that budgies tease each other out of boredom.

Or, that a budgie can get very jealous of another bird for a human’s attention.

But I think all budgie lovers find everything about their bird mesmerizing.

So, I hope that all the facts that I’ve mentioned so far; managed to charm you too!