Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!sunybcs!dmark
From: dmark@acsu.Buffalo.EDU (David Mark)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Questions about Budgies
Message-ID: <12413@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 28 Oct 89 19:37:17 GMT
References: <1555.25480de6@mccall.uucp>
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Reply-To: dmark@autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu (David Mark)
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In article <1555.25480de6@mccall.uucp> scott@mccall.uucp writes:
>Here are my questions:
>
>Does the Cere (the wasy area above the beak) tell the sex budgies?
>Ie. brown/tan for females and blue for males?

  In healthy adult budgies, the cere of the male is bright blue, and of the
  female is brown.  But, in young birds (and you should buy them young especial-
  ly if you want them to be tame, or to "talk" [=mimic]), the male has a pink
  cere with a bluish edge, the female a whiet cere with a bluish edge.

>
>Are budgies homogenius(I think this is the right word) with their mates?
>Meaning do they keep the same mate?

  "Monogamous" is the word you want.  Budgies and (as far as I know all other
  parrots are monogamous, and stay together year round in the wild, and mate
  "for life" (i.e., as long as their mate is around).

>
>What are the pluses and minuses of getting another budgie?  Will it
>help Pumkin with her lonelyness?

  Budgies are highly social.  In the wild, they travel in flocks of hundreds
  or more often thousands.  An isolated pair will seldom breed.  So, the
  more the merrier, as long as you have the space.

  Of course, it is highly unlikely that birds experience emotions as
  complex as "lonely" or "happy".


David Mark
dmark@cs.buffalo.edu