Monday, September 8, 2014

How Do You Catch Dozens of Budgies?



Because you asked ... How DO we move dozens of budgies from the Budgie Encounter to their winter home?

Labor Day is historically the day we close our Budgie Encounter exhibit for the season due to the fact that nighttime temperatures in Wisconsin's Northwoods are too cold for our friendly and brightly colored budgies.

Their latin name is budgeriar however they are more commonly known as pet or shell parakeet: but everyone knowns them simply as the budgie.

These small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrots are the only species in this genus that can be found throughout the arid parts of Australia.

So how do we move them to their off-season home? Quite simply, it takes a couple of people only a few hours to use nets specifically designed to humanely capture birds so they can be relocated to the winter housing.

Budgies are closely related to the fig parrot; a parakeet is a term that refers to any of a number of small parrots with a long, flat and tapered tail.

Badgerigars or budgies are naturally green in color and yellow with black and have scalloped markings on the neck, back and wings. Cage bred budgies are larger in size than ones found in the wild, and selective breeding by breeders over the years have caused changes in colors. Blues, whites, yellows, greys and even some with crests.

Budgies are popular pets worldwide due to their small size and ability to mimic human speech. The species were first recorded in 1805 and today is the third most popular pet in the world.