I like to call them The Blue Brothers

Ah Budgies. People call them “parakeets” in the U.S. but they’re actually descendants of Budgerigars, those little Australian psittacines. I read somewhere that “budgerigar” means “tasty morsel” in Aborigine. So their history with humans is long and precarious. I remember wondering what a budgie was ever since John Lennon wrote a poem about his.

Birds in the parrot family are better known for their ability to talk rather than sing, but I think budgies are more like rap singers. They can whistle and trill at breakneck speed and punctuate with chatter and percussive litte noises. The guys are much more vocal than the girls. Often they soliloquize, singing away to the end of the curtain rod, for instance.

I have not taught any of my budgies to talk. They wouldn’t bother with me anyway. They have plenty to discuss with each other. I am convinced they truly are having conversations, however one-sided they appear to be, and I wish I had a translator, it all goes by so fast. One will talk a blue streak and the intended listener sits rather attentive but still. You can tell when I boy budgie is trying to sing up a girl budgie by his body language, dancing around, hopping on one side or the other of her, nodding his beak toward hers. So when I see a guy budgie paying a lot of attention to an inanimate object I can only imagine he’s practicing for his next encounter.

Recording of Budgie singing with Prelude of Bach’s A Major English Suite

This little clip I’ve attached here of a budgie singing along with the Prelude to the Bach A Major English Suite is mind-blowing when you try to pay attention to it. I can’t think that fast.

Recording: Budgie with Bach C minor Prelude & Fugue from Book I, Well-Tempered Clavier

Also a little C minor Prelude and Fugue, a budgie is busy. When I grow weary of whatever I’m trying to learn, I revert to the Well-Tempered Clavier. Keep in mind this is probably only one bird, sounding like ten.