Tag Archives: the flock

Remembering Lera

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I like to celebrate our “rainbow” budgies on what would have been their hatchdays. Today would have been Lera’s. This year I decided to make videos to look back on our happy memories.

Feisty, curious and adorable. That was our little Lera.
We found Lera on Craigslist in 2014. Her owner was going off to college, and the family was looking for someone to adopt her.
After her quarantine, she joined the flock, and wasted no time showing everybudgie who was boss.
Lera loved baths, toys, cauliflower and getting into everything.
Unfortunately, Lera had issues with her health. She had to have regular beak trims, and in her later years with us, would visit our avian vet occasionally to have fluid withdrawn from her abdomen. None of this slowed her down in any way.
Lera was doted on by Gordie, then later Harvey and Felix. And of course, her humans. Lera packed a lot of personality into a tiny body and we loved her very much – we were so lucky to have found her.
If you are looking to add a budgie to your family, please consider adopting. There are some amazing little budgies out there who need a happily ever after.

Remembering Felix

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I like to celebrate our “rainbow” budgies on what would have been their hatchdays. Today would have been Felix’s. This year I decided to make videos to look back on our happy memories.


We adopted Felix from Craigslist (his former owners wanted to concentrate on their cockatiels).

Felix was a very handsome little devil. He had a biting problem when we first brought him home, but he mellowed out as he began to trust us. He received many kisses despite the occasional nip. He really was a sweet fellow at heart.

Felix was a great friend to the other budgies. He flirted with our girls, but he loved Lera (his tweetheart). He enjoyed baths and millet and would fly to my finger when I called for him. He loved to chew up balsa, and talk to himself in the mirror. He was a very handsome boy and we treasured the nine years we had with him.

Introducing…

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Marvin!

On June 24th, someone on our neighborhood Facebook page posted that they found a budgie in their backyard, hoping to find its owner. I commented that we could take him in until the owner was found, as we have extra cages, bird toys and plenty of food.
The next day the woman who found him dropped him off. He was just a baby! He was starving, and his keel bone was very pronounced. He wolfed down some seed and promptly fell asleep.

We put the little guy in a quiet room (quarantine) and monitored him in case he needed a trip to the vet. He rallied pretty quickly. At first I thought he was tame because he was so easy to handle. But I think it was the heat, and the lack of food that made him so docile. The next day it was clear that he wasn’t tame at all. And he was a bit of a biter. So we started working on building trust and stepping up.

No one ever searched for him on our neighborhood pet pages or at the shelters. We think someone either let him out (maybe because of the biting?), or didn’t bother to look for him when he escaped. So now Tippi has a little friend.

Marvin has since finished his quarantine period and is in the bird room with Tippi and Sido. He is stepping up in the cage, but we still need to work on stepping up out of the cage. The biting is no longer an issue (knock wood).
This little budgie is a cutie, quite a singer and very playful. Welcome home Marvin!

Cooper and her Flock

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Cooper with her budgie flock.
We decided to bring Dewey home as a companion for Cooper, and then we adopted Ozzie, and then Sunny, Emmy, Alfie, Gordie, Lera, Felix, Harvey and Riley. If it weren’t for Cooper, we would have never had these sweet, funny, feisty little budgies in our lives.

Cooper and Dewey

Cooper and Ozzie

Cooper and Sunny

Cooper and Alfie

Cooper and Emmy

Cooper and Gordie (and Ozzie). Gordie is in the back.

Cooper and Felix

Cooper and Harvey

Cooper and Riley

The flock.

And we can’t forget Sido.

Cooper and Dewey and Michelle

Baby Cooper and Harry

Our Emmy.

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Baby Emmy, November 2013.

Emmy and her toys.

One of the things I loved about Emmy is that she had dots on one side of her face,

but not the other.

I also loved how she would sometimes nap “butt up” or completely flattened.

Emmy and Ozzie – when Emmy was introduced to the flock, they didn’t want much to do with her. I think her playful, babyish ways were a little too much for them. But Ozzie (our little welcome wagon) would hang out with her. Eventually, they became tweethearts and were a pair until Ozzie crossed the rainbow bridge in 2022. Up until the end, she stayed by his side preening and cuddling with him.

Emmy in the Nestflix show, Emmy in Paris (seasons 1, 2 and 3).

Emmy after her bath.

Enjoying her millet.

Emmy needs a napkin.

Emmy was a messy eater, and often had mash on her face after breakfast.

Being naughty.

Emmy and Cooper.

Emmy and the flock, Sunny, Harvey, Cooper, Alfie, Felix and Ozzie.

Emmy and Alfie.

Emmy and Sido. Sido says, don’t get too close!

Cooper, Felix, Ozzie, Riley and Emmy.

Lera, Gordie, Felix, Alfie, Cooper, Ozzie, Sunny and Emmy.

Emmy, thank you for all the joy you brought us. We love you.

Emmy

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On March 7th of this year, we said goodbye to our little Emmy.

I wasn’t ready to post about it until now – first Cooper, and then Emmy. 2024 has not been the best year for our flock.
Emmy had started to throw up, so we took her to our avian vet. They ran some labs, and put her on antibiotics until the results came back. They suspected avian gastric yeast.
She started losing weight and was listless and poofy, even though she was still eating. So we took her back to the vet. She spent two days/nights there while they tube fed her, treated her and tried to find out what was wrong. Xrays showed a large inoperable tumor that was blocking the passage of food to her stomach.
We knew there was nothing we could do, and didn’t want her to suffer, so we held her and said our goodbyes. We told her we loved her and gave her kisses. She was given anesthesia, and while she was asleep an injection sent her peacefully over the rainbow bridge.

We found Emmy on Craigslist in November of 2013.The people who were rehoming her had bought her as a pet for their toddler. She still had her baby bars and was terrified of us. It took months for her to start to trust us. Emmy was a bundle of energy and very playful. Maybe too playful for the other budgies. Ozzie was the only budgie who would put up with her shenanigans, and eventually they became tweethearts.
Emmy loved being with the other budgies. She always wanted to be in the thick of things.

Emmy was our “big baby”. We think she had some English budgie in her, as she was larger than the rest of the flock. She was a beauty, too. And so soft – she had the fluffiest feathers.
I loved kissing her whipped cream belly. And she smelled divine.
Emmy was a sweet little girlfriend to Ozzie, and a good friend to Sunny and Cooper.
I hope she and the rest of the flock are together now, feasting on millet, shredding wood, singing and flying free.

Remembering Ozzie

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I like to share memories of our “rainbow” budgies on what would have been their hatchdays.
This year I decided to share videos.

We adopted Ozzie from the animal shelter in 2012. He had been attacked by a cat and a good Samaritan found him and brought him in. As soon as they patched up his puncture wounds and nursed him to health, he was put up for adoption. How lucky we were to bring him home. He was so friendly and very easy to tame.

If there was a budgie yearbook, Ozzie would have been voted “Best All Around.” He was the perfect budgie. And so photogenic! He was very chatty – if you talked to him, he would “talk” back. Not words, but vocalizations. But he sounded exactly like he understood what you were saying.
He was the flock welcome wagon. He was so sweet to the newbies. He showed them the ropes – how to play and how to eat their veggies. Ozzie loved any toy he could nibble on. He enjoyed his baths and Romaine lettuce was his favorite – maybe even more than millet.

When we brought baby Emmy into the fold, all the budgies ignored her at first. Except Ozzie. He let her pester him, and over time became her sweetheart.

We were blessed to have Ozzie in our lives for over 10 years. If you are thinking of adding a bird to your family, please consider adopting (rehomed or from a shelter). You may end up with a bird (almost) as wonderful as Ozzie.