You know I didn't plan for this to happen... Not two days after I got my gecko. But I'll get to that soon for the sake of your suspense (plus it might be obvious by now). Carolyn probably knows though. Chances are she saw me leave with what exactly I'm talking about.

Once again, the local aviculture club held their fall bird expo today this year. It was much smaller because there's a bird expo somewhere else in California as well. Still I got to see some interesting species that I don't usually see. A few rosellas, grass parakeet species... Two people were selling Meyers parrots and one had a Senegal. Couldn't handle any of them though (the one person that actually had a Meyers out for handling had waaay too many people at their table). Some people had a couple of macaws and amazons on standing perches. Some of them stepped up for people but I didn't want to take any chances.

I did get to hold a vasa parrot though! Never saw one of those at these bird shows before. I think it was a lesser vasa, since it was kinda small (there's greater vasa and lesser vasa... Pretty sure their difference is the size). Also a male too, since I'd suspect it to be the time of year where females look drastically different.

In the winter their appearances start to change. The beaks become a lighter color and the feathers a darker color. Female vasas specifically will lose all the feathers on their head, and the skin will turn yellow. They grow back and the skin and beak turns back to their normal color though.


The one at the bird show seemed somewhat stressed. Guess he didn't enjoy all the attention he was getting. He stood on my arm for a few seconds before wanting to go back to the perch.

The same table had some parrotlets, a parakeet, conures, a Meyers, a Camelot macaw and a sulphur crested cockatoo if I remember correctly. The sulphur crested cockatoo seemed much more friendly. But at the time he was busy chewing on someone's hat.

There were about 4-5 cockatiel sellers, Carolyn included. One of them even had fallows, which is the color mutation Alex had. Almost thought about buying a male to breed with Alex, but I'm in no position to breed right now. although in the future, if I do breed Alex... Carolyn, you want me to reserve one for you? For once it'd be a chick that's not related to Shodu and buster in any way.
I kid, I kid. No plans for it right now.

Speaking of which I did talk to Carolyn again! She had three grey tiels, two being Lucy's little brothers and one being from a different pair I think. Apparently one of them lost their toes to Vlad (or well, we think it's Vlad since he's the mean one when it comes to raising chicks). Honestly Carolyn, if you haven't made a parody off of "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" for an art contest yet, I'd be surprised.
I expect to see at least one "Vlad who Stole Christmas" picture this year.
I kid, I kid.

There was a person selling one mannikin finch. A male, which would be perfect for the female we have. But the seller wanted $45 and my mom didn't want to pay that much since she payed $25 last year for the pair she initially got. I was planning on buying that finch myself but well... Genius me again didn't think about it at the time again. Instead I payed for a few toys, a perch, some bird food and something else.

The perch and two toys went in the cockatiel's cage. The third toy went to new addition #2.


(He has perches he just chooses not to use them right now for some reason. Also food bowl is on the bottom to minimize the mess)
He doesn't have a name yet, but he's a male English budgie. He wasn't hand tame but I'm going to get him tame enough to step up at least. Right now he's in my room (next to Dottie), where I'll keep him there for a little bit for the sake of quarentine and also to get him tame. Of course I won't be letting him and Dottie out at the same time. But once he is used to me, I'll try introducing him to the cockatiel's and seeing if they're compatible enough to share the cage (there's enough space for the three of them, I believe).

English budgies are calmer than American parakeets, so they tend to be more compatible with cockatiels. Plus they're similar in size to cockatiels than their smaller counterparts.
If they don't get along well enough chances are I will keep him in his own cage while in the same room at least (I wouldn't want to put him it's Joey and the finch. He can at least defend himself from the cockatiels, but Joey and the finch can't defend themselves from him). The cockatiels will soon be moved to my room anyways, so I could let them all out and keep the budgie safe. He wouldn't be as safe in the room the cockatiels are in however.

Funny enough, with all the toys and such I have in there for him, right now his favorite thing to do is play with the paper on the bottom of his cage. birds are so weird sometimes.

Gorgeous little budgie! Who did you get him from? The lady sitting next to me (Delores Cadwell) is a show breeder who wins prizes with her English budgies. But I didn't see you buy one from her, so either you got it from someone else or you got it from her while I was away from the table.

My chick (Curly) only lost one toe not all of them! It doesn't slow him down any and he doesn't seem to be aware that it's missing. I don't know for sure that Vlad did it since I didn't see it happen, but he's the prime suspect. He is VICIOUS when he's got babies to protect, and Curly probably got too close to the fledglings Vlad was guarding.

I actually did buy him from Delores. It's quite possible you were away from the table. Either that or someone was blocking your view. I remember talking to her at the summer bird mart and talking about her showing her budgies.

Though I noticed that they didn't seem to fit the criteria for winning a show. At least, my budgie doesn't (crossed wings and spots on the face aren't symmetrical). Chances are she's selling the rejects.

Is this why Vlad is the forum moderator? Because of how vicious he can be?

Show breeders always keep the best birds for themselves, but the second-best birds can make wonderful pets and some of them have good show qualities even though they're not the best that the breeder had. I know that my own brand new show bird wasn't the best quality bird in the aviary, because his previous owner wouldn't have given him away if he was that good.

Vlad is not someone that you want to mess with, which is an excellent quality for a moderator. When he has a nest to defend, I need gloves just to put food and water in the cage. Sometimes he jumps on my head and bangs away like a woodpecker, which is funny until he realizes that I'm laughing at him so he decides to go after my ear instead. It's not funny when THAT happens.

You're a mean one, Mr. Vlad.
You really are a heel.
You're as cuddly as a cactus,
You're as charming as an eel,
Mr. Vlad.
You're a bad banana with a greasy black peel.

I wasn't really looking for show quality, but I didn't really see any other English budgie breeders. Saw quite a bit of smaller parakeets though. No one seemed to like hand taming them which is surprising. In fact this one isn't even hand tame. I believe it's possible to tame him though. Wouldn't expect him to want to be touched but I could probably get him to step up and accept food from me.

It does appear that he's adjusting well though. Within only a few hours he has played with all of his toys, chewed up some of the paper, hang upside down on one of his perches, swung on the swing and humped one of the bowls... Twice. He's definitely a busy-butt, but that's to be expected with budgies.

Budgies are great birds, and Delores has an excellent reputation. I think you'll be very satisfied with him!

Congratulations. He's very handsome. I'd say I like english budgies more than the american budgies. They look much more regal. Blue budgies are my favorite color of budgies too.

He looks just like my budgie

I'm still laughing about this. We've been calling him Mr. Vlad for 17 years and corrupting all kinds of songs to be about him, but this one never crossed my mind.

Congratulations on your new addition!

I used to breed budgies for showing and obviously here in England we predominantly have English budgies. I wanted to start mixing the English into smaller birds to keep them as naturally more 'tame' birds while still having a slightly fluffy head and half the health issues. I don't think the issues will affect pet birds, but I found they did not do so great in the flight department and so weren't suitable for aviary life. I now have none left in my flock but I still love them. I think their poofy heads, angry little eyebrows and personalities are awesome. I have housed mine with cockatiels and red fronted kakarikis with no issues what so ever in their flight. I'm sure they'll be fine with yours

How cool are Vasa parrots? They are predatory too! They like eating meat. They are so peculiar. I remember seeing some for sale and couldn't believe how inexpensive they were considering how rare they are. I have to get my hands on some eventually, amazing and so unique