Budgerigar for my Favorite Kid's Mom!!!

Ha ha... Title change a bit. We're going to talk about Budgerigar today little one. I assume that's your Mom's favorite. I believe your Mom's love for birds is equivalent to my love for animals. Let's begin...

What's a Budgerigar? What does it look like? Let Aunty C show you some photos. A picture speaks a thousand words.

There you go! This little birdie here is called the Budgerigar, pronounced [buhj-uh-ree-gahr]. I kid you not little one. As Aunty C type all these down, I can hear birds chirping nearby. 

1. Wild budgerigars are originally from Australia
2. They are nomadic birds, moving from place to place in search of water and food. 
3. They are able to fly hundreds of miles if necessary in search of water. 
4. These hardy birds endure a climate that can be very hot and dry and also cold as well as rainy depending on the season and the weather trends. 
5. Budgies live in flocks and when conditions are favorable, they sometimes group together to form a huge flock containing thousands of budgies. Now, how does that look like? Let me show you, yet another photo.

1. Wild budgerigars feed primarily on grass seeds, eucalyptus leaves and various other seeds and greens.
2. Breeding usually occurs during rainy seasons when water is plentiful. 
3. Like other parrots, budgies build their nests in holes found in trees. 
4. They will chew at the tree cavity until they have the shape and size that they need. 
5. The female budgie will lay an egg every 2 days until she has 4 to 8 eggs. 
6. While the mother budgie is busy keeping the eggs warm, it is the father's job to feed the mother and protect the nest. 
7. Incubation lasts about 18-21 days before the eggs will hatch. 
8. Baby budgerigars usually fledge or leave the nest on the fourth or fifth week after they hatch. 
9. Both the mother and father take turns feeding the babies. This reminds me of penguins. Let's talk about those next time.
10. Their nicknames are Budgie, Parakeet, Grass Parakeet, Shell Parakeet.
11. Wild budgies are primarily green with black stripes and yellow heads.
12. Domestic budgies can be green, blue, yellow (lutino), white (albino), gray, violet and many varieties of these colors and patterns. 
13. Their average size is 18 cm (7 in) long.
14. They weigh around 26-40 grams.
15. Their common enemies are predatory birds, snakes and environmental issues.
16. Budgies, like all parrots, have 2 toes that face forward and 2 that face back unlike other birds who have 3 toes facing forward and 1 facing back. 
17. Studies have shown that the yellow feathers of budgerigars have fluorescent pigment. Since budgies are able to see a broader spectrum of colors including some ultra-violet, these fluorescent feathers are thought to play a role in attracting a mate.
18. Budgie eggs are white.
19. Budgies can turn their heads around 180 degrees.
20. If an adult budgie's cere (the flesh above the beak where the nostrils are located) is blue it is a male, if it is brown or tan it is a female.
21. The average life span of a domestic budgie is 5-8 years however some have been known to live 15 years or more. 
22. They can mimic human speech. With proper training, budgerigars can learn to talk about 100 words. Do you know that the budgie named "Puck" is listed in the Guinness World Records as the most talking bird? 
23. Their name comes from aboriginal Australian, who knew budgie for over 40,000 years before Europeans arrived on their continent.
24. Bones found in Australia reveal that wild budgies have been on Earth far longer than human beings have existed!
25. Budgies can register 150 images per second. To compare, humans can only register 16 images per second.
26. They can hear a range of sounds from 400 to 20,000 Hz.
27. Budgies normal body temperature is over 102 degrees Fahrenheit and his heart beats more than 200 times a minute.

Ok!!! Regarding the color of the cere to decide gender of the bird, I found this:

A mature male's cere is usually light to dark blue, but can be purplish to pink in some particular colour mutations, such as Dark-eyed Clears, Danish Pieds (Recessive Pieds) and Inos, which usually display much rounder heads. Males are typically cheerful, extroverted, highly flirtatious, peacefully social, and very vocal.

Females' ceres are pinkish as immatures and switch from being beigish or whitish outside breeding condition into brown (often with a 'crusty' texture) in breeding condition and usually display flattened backs of heads (right above the nape region). Females are typically highly dominant and more socially intolerant.

When females get older, their ceres tend to be brown usually, females are often more bossy and rude with their own gender, but with males they get along better; usually when budgies of different gender are put together, they tend to be more kind to each other, some will not even fight or peck at each other for their life time.

Male Budgerigar

Female Budgerigar

Head Detail of a Male Budgerigar

English budgie (left), as compared to wild type budgerigars

Adult females (top) display beige to brown ceres, while adult males (bottom) typically have blue ceres or purplish-pink in albinistic and recessive pied varieties.

I wonder now why there's a wing named b@#~!$% there. 

A 'kinder' diagram for the little one. Previous diagram is meant for adults.

I hope you've learnt a few more things about your Mommy's favorite today little one! Till next time, Penguins we go... I wish you a brilliant day ahead kiddo! See ya around mate...^^

Dreamy C