Budgerigar at my Bird Feeder

Last fall when I moved to the house Im living in I set up a few bird feeders. Well 8 feeders: 2 Hummingbird feeders, 1 Oriole feeder, 1 Tube, 1 Double-sided feeder, 1 platform feeder, and 2 thistle feeders. It took more than a month for any birds to come to the feeders but now its a very different story. I have seen at least 40 species of bird in my backyard (I'll post some pics on a future blog post), some use the feeders and others do not.

Today while I was watching all the baby House Finches, House Sparrows, and a Mockingbird family being fed by their parents, something very colorful came down. It was a Budgerigar!

This bird is commonly sold in any pet store that has birds. In Houston, and many other places, people have a very bad habit of letting their pets go or releasing them into the wild when they are tired of them. I also do know that many birds like this budgerigar, or budgie, are released for religious ceremonies and weddings. This can be harmful to the birds themselves as most will not survive, but also to other species by spreading diseases and out competing native species for food and nest areas.

Anyway, it is a very charming little bird. Hopefully it will come back and maybe it will attract some of the Monk Parakeets I always see flying by...