Bluebirdie

We lost a tiny new member of our birdie family today, a little yellow budgie, that I "inherited" from my daughter Emma less than two months ago, named "Fidget".

Emma and Ryan decided to get two budgies when they moved in together nearly two years ago, but the kitten they brought home just after the budgies showed just a little bit too much interest in her feathered siblings! Emma's grandma "minded" them for a while but didn't want to keep them indefinitely, so I put up my hand and said they might be good company for my Indian Ring Necked Parrot, Charlie.

Well, when the birds came home and we set the cage up next to Charlie's, she loved them, especially the male budgie, Bluebirdie, and they can often be seen sitting next to each other, in separate cages, quite companionably.

Little Fidget, the yellow female budgie, showed no interest in Charlie, but seemed happy enough with her new home. Fidget and Bluebirdie would sing happily together, side by side on their perches, then off she would flit to the other side of the cage to investigate the seed, or water, or whatever caught her eye. That's why she was named Fidget, she didn't sit still for too long before flitting off to another part of the cage.

Today though, little Fidget seemed out of sorts, and this afternoon she lay herself face down on the floor of the cage and closed her eyes forever.

I feel like such an inadequate birdie mother now. I feed the wild birds every day, but know nothing about the health of budgies at all. I should have seen the signs and known what they meant. I believe she may have been egg bound, a term which I knew nothing of, until today. My only consolation is that she didn't seem distressed and was eating well until today.

It occurred to me after I buried little Fidget in the pet graveyard in the back garden that I didn't take any photos of little Fidget, not a single one! So this afternoon I have taken a few of Bluebirdie, and you will also see Charlie close by, in the bird cage beside Bluebirdie.

It's funny to see, considering the events of the afternoon, but Bluebirdie is still chirping away happily in his cage, whereas Charlie seems quite sad and quiet, and keeps on looking into the cage, as if she's checking to see if Fidget has come back.

I have a lot to learn about budgies and right now I'm wondering, should I get another lady friend for Bluebirdie? Do budgies mate for life? Will he be happy with just Charlie for company, next door? If anyone has any ideas, I'm listening!