Two budgies…parakeets…have been my best bird friends over time. They have very unique personalities and can be quite loveable. And, you can find them under “pet birds for sale” at most pet stores. My first was presented to me quite unexpectedly one Christmas and the second I spotted at a Petco store and fell in love at first sight.
Noel
My first parakeet I named Noel. My sister and family gave her to me one Christmas all wrapped up in her cage. Noelsy became my little best feathered pet friend and was with me for a happy 8 years. She was green with a little yellow and bright blue near her beak. Noel never did come out of her cage except to sit in her doorway on a perch or fly up to a curtain rod. I never did get her to sit on my finger or my shoulder.
I needed a lot of info to take proper care of Noel. So I did buy a bird book and look up budgie information sites on line. Parakeets are pretty maintenance-free for the most part. They do tend to scatter seeds quite a bit and ‘poop’ a lot. Paper on the bottom of her cage worked very well. And making sure to keep her water dish and seed dish full was a priority. Once I got quite behind in replenishing her seeds and she let me know with a very loud continuous screeching.
Check out a good article on budgie care.
Best Pet Bird Cage Amenities
Mirrors are great attention getters for most birds. And bells to ring and ladders to climb they seem to like a lot. Another thing I found is that many birds like a little bathtub full of lukewarm or room-temperature water in their cage to take a bath occasionally.
They do need to be covered at night to feel secure and get some good sleep. For USA-made cage covers take a look at my post entitled “USA Pet Bedding Products”.
What I didn’t find out until my second best feathered pet friend is that there are quite a few foods they do like to eat. Some fruit, even carrots are in their diets. Also good for their talons are rough perches and for their beaks calcium bars.
Heart Warming Pets
I was gone for 2 or 3 weeks and had a friend caring for Noel. When I returned and bent down to say ‘hello’ she started kissing my nose and singing softly over and over. it was very heart warming to have this little bird show me such affection.
Noel was pretty healthy and rode in her cage up to Oregon with me from southern California. She was doing great in Oregon until I left a window partially open a couple of nights. Unfortunately she caught pneumonia and and my first best bird friend passed on. I felt terribly sad.
Skyli
A few years later as I was strolling through a pet store, my eyes landed on the parakeets. I was smitten with a small pale blue girl with pale yellow feathers near her face. Skyli was what I called her. She became my next pet bird friend.
She loved carrots. Of course, I had to shred them for her to eat. She also had lots of seeds and I tried different fruits but to no avail…her fav were carrots. This little girl was quite shy. I bought her an outside the cage play box but it wasn’t for her…she liked the safety of her cage.
After we had been together a bit, she took to kissing my lips with her beak…softly…so very sweet. She had become my second best feathered pet friend.
But Skyli wasn’t to be around as long as Noel. She became quite sick after a couple of years. So I took her to a special bird veterinarian and left her over the weekend. This I hoped would get her on the road back to being healthy. As it turned out I believe she caught the flu from me. Toward the end she just couldn’t keep any food down.
It is so heartbreaking when we lose a dear pet, whether it be a dog, cat, bird, fish, frog, or whatever. They are quite good at communicating; it is just too sad they cannot tell us more.
Personality Plus
What is so fun is that no matter the genre they all have the most individual personalities just as we humans do. And learning to communicate with your pets is delightful and entertaining. It is also educational and enlightening.
If you have the time and energy to train your budgie to talk, here is some information on training your cute parakeet. For some detailed information on best pet bird species, see my post “I Want a Pet Bird“.
Another note if you are adopting a pet bird, see my post on “Celebrate National Pet Day” and see some fun USA-made toys and treats for your new best pet friend.
Lastly, consider pet insurance to protect your feathered friend. See my review post on pet insurance companies and their offerings in “Protection for Pets”.
Thanks
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Nikki, I loved your bird “story”, Makes me want a bird. Your story telling is excellent I should try writing again.
Thanks much, Katrob. I think you should too!
Thanks for passing along the video Nikki and I loved your story of your bird family over the years. I have always wanted an African Grey, but with our nomadic lifestyle not possible. Now I am in my late 60s the worry is that they live so long.. and are very distracting. I doubt I would get much word done.. Happy Easter.
Thanks for your nice comments. Happy Easter.