View allAll Photos Tagged behaviour
Interesting behaviour that I'd never spotted before, but this soldier beetle (Either Cantharis crypticca or Cantharis figurata var. luteata.) is feeding on a very pink rust spot on a dock leaf.
Interesting and intelligent behaviour displayed by this Herring Gull. It repeatedly flew up in the air with a shell, releasing it on to the rocky shore in order crack the shell and eat the contents.
A calm and cloudless sunset at Ripon Wetlands produced a fabulous Boxing Day murmuration with tens of thousands of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) appearing to overshoot the reedbeds, only to reappear from behind us around ten minutes later, by which time almost everyone else had left! Moral of the story is to stay put and be patient : ) A humbing and truly awesome (in the old-fashioned sense) experience.
From dusk until late, Bourke Street’s Royal Mail House will be re-animated by the dazzling, kinetic light installation – maxims of behaviour – by artist, Alexander Knox.
Governments around the world are drawing on behavioural insights to improve public policy outcomes: from automatic enrolment for pensions, to better tax compliance, to increasing the supply of organ donation.
But those very same policy makers are also subject to biases that can distort decision making. The Behavioural Insights Team has been studying those biases and what can be done to counter them, in collaboration with Jill Rutter and Julian McCrae of the Institute for Government.
The report was launched with remarks from Alex Chisholm, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.
Dr Michael Hallsworth, Director of the Behavioural Insights Team in North America presented the key findings.
The findings, their relevance to policy making today, and what they mean for the way governments make decisions were discussed by:
Polly Mackenzie, Director of Policy for the Deputy Prime Minister, 2010–15 and now Director of Demos
Dr Tony Curzon Price, Economic Advisor to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
The event was chaired by Jill Rutter, Programme Director at the Institute for Government.
#IfGBIT
Photos by Candice McKenzie
Odd behaviour of Ring-billed Gull.... my friend Penny told me one day that she had seen Gulls feeding on berry trees. I thought it was strange. So next time I was in that area for other wildlife, I remembered about this and watched them for a while. They sure have a hard time standing on a branch and they do like berries too.
We had a lovely day out with friends today at a local farm. Last time the children were rather startled by the livestock, but today they had a fab time!
ODC - OUR PARENTS WAR is the topic for Thursday 24th of January 2013 -
The idea here is to photograph something your parent (or parents) fought for.
Both my parents fought for INDIVIDUALISM - Individualism regards every man or woman as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being. Individualism holds that a civilized society, or any form of association, cooperation or peaceful coexistence among men, can be achieved only on the basis of the recognition of individual rights—and that a group, as such, has no rights other than the individual rights of its members.
Just like this Blizzard Lizard or White (Albino) Blue Tongue Lizard (Skink)
Once in a great while, an ALBINO blue tongued skink is born with the litter. It's a rarity, a treat, and a sight to behold. It's really no different than the white tiger, and many other animals. It's just a freak thing that happens once in a while—breed two blue tongues, and once in a blue moon, you may receive the highly coveted snow white albino blue tongued skink. Theoretically, unlike snakes, the breeding of an albino blue tongued skink has never been successfully accomplished. This is mostly in part due to their extreme rareness and unavailability. Their colors can vary from completely white, to faint yellow and orange stripes. The eyes are also cloudy and reddish. Albinos also have PINK tongues.
Blue tongues have somewhat unusual body proportions: a big head and long body with very short legs and small feet. Their evenly tapering tail is fat and shorter than the body.
Male lizards have a proportionally larger head than females, but the females are bigger overall.
The most noticeable feature of these lizards is the blue tongue inside the bright pink mouth.
Like all reptiles they do not produce any body heat. Their body temperature depends on the surrounding temperature and they can be found sun basking in the mornings or during cooler days. On cold days they remain inactive in their shelter. (They need a body temperature of 30 to 35°C to be active.)
Their diet consists of plant matter and small animals. That can be beetles, caterpillars, crickets, snails and even other small lizards. Anything they can get hold of will do. But they are not very fast, so they usually eat slower critters. They are very partial to slugs and snails. Oh, and they steal dog food...
Blue-tongue lizards have strong jaw muscles to crush big beetles and snail shells. They may also bite in defence when they feel threatened.
The blue tongue's main defence strategy is bluff:
It faces the threat and opens its mouth. The blue tongue inside the pink mouth is an unexpected and vivid sight, designed to frighten off the attacker.
The lizard also hisses loudly and flattens its body which makes it look wider and bigger.
If you pick the lizard up now it will bite you. And it will hurt. Blue tongues have a habit of latching onto your finger and not letting go, which leaves you with a nice bruise.
Blue-tongues occur across most of Australia. They like open country with lots of cover like tall grasses, leaf litter, rocks and logs, low shrubs etc. under which they will shelter at night. (They also like burrows).
During the day they sun themselves until they are warm enough, and then they forage for food during the warmer parts of the day.
Blue-tongue lizards live alone for most of the year. It's only during the mating season between September and November that the male will pursue females (and fight other males). Mating is a rough affair and many females carry scars from the male's teeth...
Female blue tongues stay within a defined home base. The males wander over an area the size of about 15 house blocks and have several females. (Does something sound familiar here or what?)
Blue tongues are born alive, about three to five month after mating. The size of the litter varies according to the species, but usually produce around 5-12 babies, the larger the adult the larger the litter size. From the moment they are born they have to look for food themselves (they start by eating the placenta), and they will be off on their own within a few days.
The Common Blue-tongue Lizard has the largest litter (up to 25 young at once) and the smallest young. The baby blue-tongue lizards are 13 to 14 cm long and weigh 10 to 20 g. The Shingleback is at the other end of the scale with only two or three young, about 22 cm in size and weighing 200 g.
The Common Blue-tongued Lizard breeds annually, but other species breed only every second year. How often they breed also depends on the amount of food available.
A lucky blue-tongued lizard can live for many years. Lizards in captivity have lived for as long as 20 years, and some in the wild may live for up to 30 years.
The main predators that may cut a blue-tongued lizard's life short are lawn mowers, cars, and cats and dogs. Cats are the worst. Dogs are often perplexed enough by the blue tongue and the threatening behaviour of the lizard to keep a distance. But cats are ambush predators and the lizard doesn't get a chance to show its scary tongue...
Baby blue tongues may also end up as dinner for currawongs, kookaburras, raptors or snakes.
Blue-tongued lizards can drop their tails if necessary to escape a predator. The stump will heal quickly and a new tail will start to grow. It takes about a year for the new one to fully regenerate. That's if the lizard has a stable food source. All the food and water reserves are stored in the tail. If the tail is lost the skink has nothing to fall back on and needs a steady supply.
Blue-tongue lizards are an asset in the garden as they keep the numbers of snails, caterpillars and other pests down.
It's not hard to make your garden blue-tongue lizard friendly. All they need is plenty of shelter and food. If you have lots of rocks and logs on the ground, piles of leaves, mulch, ground covers and low shrubs, then you are taking care of both requirements, because beetles, spiders, snails and other critters will like the many moist and protected hidey-holes too.
The quickest way to wipe out your blue-tongue lizard population is to use snail pellets. Blue tongues love snails and can't go past them. The lizards eat the poisoned snails and die as well. The snail population will recover, the lizard population won't. (It's a typical scenario that replays over and over again wherever people use chemicals to control pests.) Leave the snail control to the lizards, they will eventually catch up. Don't panic if you see a few snails. You need a few or the blue tongues will go hungry.
The other thing to be careful of is blue tongue lizards hiding in the grass when you are mowing. The noise will not scare them away. Rather they will turn around and threaten the lawn mower with their blue tongue, which in this case is somewhat ineffective.
Keep your cat indoors (which you should anyway), teach your dog to share its food (a good poke in the ribs whenever it looks in a lizard's direction has worked well in this household), and of course, don't run your blue tongue lizard over on your driveway while it tries to get warm enough to move.
Many years ago I used to have Blue Tongue Lizards in my backyard when I lived in western NSW.
I reckon this to be a female grey shrike-thrush, Colluricincla harmonica. The bush was ringing with their clear notes — possibly the purest of any bird — which are said to be made up of five notes. I've never counted them. My recollection of the one that I had resident for ages was that it actually had more than just the one call.
What I did notice was that when this bird landed on this hollow branch, it disappeared, head-first. I've never seen that before in this species! Evidently it emerged. What happened next was even less expected than one grey shrike-thrush disappearing.
One highly regarded guide tells us that the shrike-thrushes nest is large, deep, cup-shaped, made of twigs, bark, roots, leaves; built in tree forks, old stumps or rock crevices. My next source, oddly, has nothing at all to say on the matter. But my oldest has it covered: large cup or bowl, strips of bark…in the fork of…hollow top of stump or tree cavity, sawn-off buttress of tree surrounded by coppice-growth, palms overhanging bank, vine against house, downpipe or hanging tin, sometimes in sheds…
In a moment, two grey shrike-thrushes shot down that hole! What could this be if not nesting behaviour? Were their short sorties out of that hollow spent collecting food for nestlings? They were too quick for me to answer these questions and the day was headed for my time to leave for home.
Getting back to those guides, the oldest highlighted the eclectic nature of nest choice, the next oldest looks like a truncated paraphrasing of the first and the newest took that to a new level but saying so little it said nothing. Time for a rewrite chaps! This most magnificent songbird deserves better. Lift your game, please.
James Hunt was notorious for his unconventional behaviour on and off the track, which earned him a reputation for cavalier indulgence in both alcohol and sex. Having been part of Formula One when the series was consolidating its global popularity, Hunt's image was the epitome of the unruly, playboy driver, with a touch of English eccentricity (which included dining with his pet German Shepherd, Oscar, at expensive Mayfair restaurants).
Early in their careers Hunt and Niki Lauda were friends off the track. Lauda occasionally stayed at Hunt's flat when he had nowhere to sleep for the night. In his autobiography To Hell and Back, Lauda described Hunt as an "open, honest to God pal." Lauda admired Hunt's burst of speed while Hunt envied Lauda's capacity for analysis and rigour. In the spring of 1974, Hunt moved to Spain on the advice of the International Management Group. Whilst living there as a tax exile, Hunt was the neighbour of Jody Scheckter, and they also came to be very good friends, with Hunt giving Scheckter the nickname Fletcher after the crash-prone bird in the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Another close friend was Ronnie Peterson. Peterson was a quiet and shy man, whilst Hunt was exactly the opposite, but their contrasting personalities made them very close off the track. It was Hunt who discovered Gilles Villeneuve, whom he met after being soundly beaten by him in a Formula Atlantic race in 1976. Hunt then arranged for the young Canadian to make his Grand Prix debut with McLaren in 1977.
Source: Wikipedia
Spotting another Snowy Owl flying nearby this snowy lets out a loud screech. I believe they are quite territorial. Late day sunshine.
Thank you for viewing.
This is one of Marien's original character from her novel/story projectdianthus.wordpress.com/tag/project-dianthus/
Nil is (taken from author's website): "he is a clone of an original human specimen designed to be more bioweapon than actual human. He has a tendency to exhibit aloof, detached behaviour, and is only somewhat expressive when interacting with his Great Dane, Gambit. Nearly everyone is in awe of him due to the extent of his abilities, all of which he uses freely to accomplish what is expected of him.
What I enjoy most about him is that his thoughts and actions are that of a man living in the post-apocalyptic future. He is by no means materialistic, and is geared towards ensuring the survival of those he has sworn to protect. He has a rather dysfunctional moral compass; he would not hesitate to trade one life to save a more valuable one."
Doll sculpt: Felix (Iplehouse)
Faceup artist: ruggedrealism.wordpress.com
The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), also known as the common parakeet, shell parakeet or budgie (/ˈbʌdʒi/ BUJ-ee), is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Budgies are the only species in the genus Melopsittacus. Naturally, the species is green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings.[5] Budgies are bred in captivity with colouring of blues, whites, yellows, greys, and even with small crests. Juveniles and chicks are monomorphic, while adults are told apart by their cere colouring, and their behaviour.
The species is the only member of the genus Melopsittacus, which is the only genus in the Melopsittacini tribe.
The origin of the budgerigar's name is unclear. First recorded in 1805, budgerigars are popular pets around the world due to their small size, low cost, and ability to mimic human speech. They are likely the third most popular pet in the world, after the domesticated dog and cat. Budgies are nomadic flock parakeets that have been bred in captivity since the 19th century. In both captivity and the wild, budgerigars breed opportunistically and in pairs.
They are found wild throughout the drier parts of Australia, where they have survived harsh inland conditions for over five million years. Their success can be attributed to a nomadic lifestyle and their ability to breed while on the move. The budgerigar is closely related to lories and the fig parrots.
Etymology
Pair of budgerigars
Several possible origins for the name budgerigar have been proposed. One origin could be that budgerigar may be a mispronunciation or alteration of the Gamilaraay word gidjirrigaa (Aboriginal pronunciation: [ɡ̊iɟiriɡaː]) or gijirragaa from the Yuwaalaraay. Another possible origin is that budgerigar might be a modified form of budgery or boojery (Australian English slang for "good") and gar ("cockatoo"). While many references mention "good" as part of the meaning, and a few specify "good bird", it is quite possible that reports by those local to the region are more accurate in specifying the direct translation as "good food".
Alternative spellings include budgerygah and betcherrygah, the latter used by Indigenous people of the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales.
Alternative names for the budgerigar include the shell parrot or shell parakeet, the warbling grass parakeet, the canary parrot, the zebra parrot, the flight bird, and the scallop parrot. Although more often used as a common name for small parrots in the genus Agapornis, the name "lovebird" has been used for budgerigars, because of their habit of close perching and mutual preening, and their long term pair-bonds.
Taxonomy
Evolutionary history
parrots
Lories and lorikeets
Budgerigar
Fig parrots
genera Cyclopsitta & Psittaculirostris
... other parrots
Phylogenetic chart
The budgerigar was first described by George Shaw in 1805, and given its current binomial name by John Gould in 1840. The genus name Melopsittacus, from Ancient Greek, means "melodious parrot". The species name undulatus is Latin for "undulated" or "wave-patterned".
The budgerigar was once proposed to be a link between the genera Neophema and Pezoporus, based on the barred plumage. However, recent phylogenetic studies using DNA sequences place the budgerigar very close to the lories (tribe Loriini) and the fig parrots (tribe Cyclopsittini).
Description
Wild budgerigars average 18 cm (7 in) long,[6] weigh 30–40 grams (1.1–1.4 oz), 30 cm (12 in) in wingspan, and display a light green body colour (abdomen and rumps), while their mantles (back and wing coverts) display pitch-black mantle markings (blackish in fledglings and immatures) edged in clear yellow undulations. The forehead and face is yellow in adults. Prior to their adult plumage, young individuals have blackish stripes down to the cere (nose) in young individuals until around 3–4 months of age. They display small, iridescent blue-violet cheek patches and a series of three black spots across each side of their throats (called throat patches). The two outermost throat spots are situated at the base of each cheek patch. The tail is cobalt (dark-blue); and outside tail feathers display central yellow flashes. Their wings have greenish-black flight feathers and black coverts with yellow fringes along with central yellow flashes, which only become visible in flight or when the wings are outstretched. Bills are olive grey and legs blueish-grey, with zygodactyl toes.
In their natural Australian habitat, budgerigars are noticeably smaller than those in captivity. This particular parrot species has been bred in many other colours and shades in captivity (e.g. blue, grey, grey-green, pieds, violet, white, yellow-blue). Pet store individuals will commonly be blue, green, or yellow. Like most parrot species, budgerigar plumage fluoresces under ultraviolet light – a phenomenon possibly related to courtship and mate selection.
The upper half of their beaks is taller than the bottom half, covering the bottom when closed. The beak does not protrude much, due to the thick, fluffy feathers surrounding it, giving the appearance of a downward-pointing beak that lies flat against the face. The upper half acts as a long, smooth cover, while the bottom half is just about a half-sized cup-piece. These beaks allow the birds to eat plants, fruits, and vegetables.
The colour of the cere (the area containing the nostrils) differs between the sexes, being a lavender/baby blue in males, pale brownish/white (non breeding) to brown (breeding) in females, and pink in immature birds of both sexes (usually of a more even purplish-pink colour in young males). Some female budgerigars develop brown cere only during breeding time, which later returns to the normal colour. Young females can often be identified by a subtle, chalky whiteness that starts around the nostrils. Males that are either albino, lutino, dark-eyed clear or recessive pied (Danish pied or harlequin) retain the immature purplish-pink cere colour for their entire lives.
Behaviours and head shape also help indicate sex. Veterinarians can determine the sex of a bird by invasive examination or samples of blood, feather, or eggshell.
Mature males usually have a cere of light to dark blue, but in some particular colour mutations it can be periwinkle, lavender, purplish or pink – including dark-eyed clears, Danish pieds (recessive pieds) and inos, which usually display much rounder heads. The behaviour of males can distinguish them from females. Males are typically cheerful, extroverted, highly flirtatious, peacefully social, and very vocal.
Female ceres are pinkish while immature. As they age, they move from being beigeish or whitish outside breeding condition into brown (often with a 'crusty' texture) in breeding condition and usually display flattened backs of heads (right above the nape). Females are more dominant and less socially tolerant. This behavior is more pronounced around other females than with males.
Budgerigars have tetrachromatic colour vision, although all four classes of cone cells will not operate simultaneously unless under sunlight or a UV lamp. The ultraviolet spectrum brightens their feathers to attract mates. The throat spots in budgerigars reflect UV and can be used to distinguish individual birds. While ultraviolet light is essential to the good health of caged and pet birds, inadequate darkness or rest results in overstimulation.
Ecology
Budgerigars are nomadic and flocks move on from sites as environmental conditions change. Budgerigars are found in open habitats, primarily in scrublands, open woodlands, and grasslands of Australia. The birds are normally found in small flocks, but can form very large flocks under favourable conditions. The nomadic movement of the flocks is tied to the availability of food and water. Budgerigars have two distinct flight speeds which they are capable of switching between depending on the circumstance. Drought can drive flocks into more wooded habitat or coastal areas. They feed on the seeds of spinifex and grass, and sometimes ripening wheat.
Outside of Australia, the only long-term establishment of naturalised feral budgerigars is a large population near St. Petersburg, Florida. Increased competition for nesting sites from European starlings and house sparrows is thought to be a primary cause of the Florida population declining from the 1980s. The more consistent, year-round conditions in Florida significantly reduced their nomadic behaviour.
The species has been introduced to various locations in Puerto Rico and the United States.
Budgerigars feed primarily on grass seeds. The species also opportunistically depredates growing cereal crops and lawn grass seeds.[35] Due to the low water content of the seeds they rely on the availability of freshwater.
Behaviour
Breeding in the wild generally takes place between June and September in northern Australia and between August and January in the south, although budgerigars are opportunistic breeders and respond to rains when grass seeds become most abundant. Budgerigars are monogamous and breed in large colonies throughout their range. They show signs of affection to their flockmates by preening or feeding one another. Budgerigars feed one another by eating the seeds themselves, and then regurgitating it into their flockmate's mouth. Populations in some areas have increased as a result of increased water availability at farms. Nests are made in holes in trees, fence posts or logs lying on the ground; the four to six eggs are incubated for 18–21 days, with the young fledging about 30 days after hatching.
In the wild, virtually all parrot species require a hollow tree or a hollow log as a nest site. Because of this natural behaviour, budgerigars most easily breed in captivity when provided with a reasonable-sized nest box.
The eggs are typically one to two centimetres long and are pearl white without any colouration if fertile. Female budgerigars can lay eggs without a male partner, but these unfertilised eggs will not hatch. Females normally have a whitish tan cere; however, when the female is laying eggs, her cere turns a crusty brown colour. Certain female budgies may always keep a whitish tan cere or always keep a crusty brown cere regardless of breeding condition. A female budgerigar will lay her eggs on alternating days. After the first one, there is usually a two-day gap until the next. She will usually lay between four and eight eggs, which she will incubate (usually starting after laying her second or third) for about 21 days each. Females only leave their nests for very quick defecations, stretches and quick meals once they have begun incubating and are by then almost exclusively fed by their mate (usually at the nest's entrance). Females will not allow a male to enter the nest, unless he forces his way inside. Clutch size ranges from 6 to 8 chicks. Depending on the clutch size and the beginning of incubation, the age difference between the first and last hatchling can be anywhere from 9 to 16 days. At times, the parents may begin eating their own eggs due to feeling insecure in the nest box.
There is evidence of same-sex sexual behaviour amongst male budgerigars. It is originally hypothesised that they did this as a form of "courtship practice" so they were better breeding partners for females, however an inverse relationship exists between participation in same-sex behaviour and pairing success.
Chick health
Breeding difficulties arise for various reasons. Some chicks may die from diseases and attacks from adults. Other budgerigars (virtually always females) may fight over the nest box, attacking each other or a brood. Another problem may be the birds' beaks being under-lapped, where the lower mandible is above the upper mandible.
Most health issues and physical abnormalities in budgerigars are genetic. Care should be taken that birds used for breeding are active, healthy and unrelated. Budgerigars that are related or have fatty tumours or other potential genetic health problems should not be allowed to breed. Parasites (lice, mites, worms) and pathogens (bacteria, fungi and viruses), are contagious and thus transmitted between individuals through either direct or indirect contact. Nest boxes should be cleaned between uses.
Splay leg is a relatively common problem in baby budgerigars and other birds; one of the budgerigar's legs is bent outward, which prevents it from being able to stand properly and compete with the other chicks for food, and can also lead to difficulties in reproducing in adulthood. The condition is caused by young budgerigars slipping repeatedly on the floor of a nest box. It is easily avoided by placing a small quantity of a safe bedding or wood shavings in the bottom of the nest box. Alternatively, several pieces of paper may be placed in the box for the female to chew into bedding.
Development
Eggs take about 18–20 days before they start hatching. The hatchlings are altricial – blind, naked, unable to lift their head and totally helpless, and their mother feeds them and keeps them warm constantly. Around 10 days of age, the chicks' eyes will open, and they will start to develop feather down. The appearance of down occurs at the age for closed banding of the chicks.
They develop feathers around three weeks of age. (One can often easily note the colour mutation of the individual birds at this point.) At this stage of the chicks' development, the male usually has begun to enter the nest to help his female in caring and feeding the chicks. Some budgerigar females, however, totally forbid the male from entering the nest and thus take the full responsibility of rearing the chicks until they fledge.
Depending on the size of the clutch and most particularly in the case of single mothers, it may then be wise to transfer a portion of the hatchlings (or best of the fertile eggs) to another pair. The foster pair must already be in breeding mode and thus either at the laying or incubating stages, or already rearing hatchlings.
As the chicks develop and grow feathers, they are able to be left on their own for longer periods of time. By the fifth week, the chicks are strong enough that both parents will be comfortable in staying out of the nest more. The youngsters will stretch their wings to gain strength before they attempt to fly. They will also help defend the box from enemies, mostly with their loud screeching. Young budgerigars typically fledge (leave the nest) around their fifth week of age and are usually completely weaned between six and eight weeks old. However, the age for fledging, as well as weaning, can vary slightly depending on the age and the number of surviving chicks. Generally speaking, the oldest chick is the first to be weaned. Although it is logically the last one to be weaned, the youngest chick is often weaned at a younger age than its older sibling(s). This can be a result of mimicking the actions of older siblings. Lone surviving chicks are often weaned at the youngest possible age as a result of having their parents' full attention and care.
Hand-reared budgies may take slightly longer to wean than parent-raised chicks. Hand feeding is not routinely done with budgerigars, due to their small size and because young parent raised birds can be readily tamed.
Relationship with humans
Aviculture
The budgerigar has been bred in captivity since the 1850s. Breeders have worked to produce a variety of colour, pattern and feather mutations, including albino, blue, cinnamon-ino (lacewing), clearwing, crested, dark, greywing, opaline, pieds, spangled, dilute (suffused) and violet.
"English budgerigars", more correctly called "show" or "exhibition budgerigars", are about twice as large as their wild counterparts and have puffier head feathers, giving them a boldly exaggerated look. The eyes and beak can be almost totally obscured by these fluffy head feathers. English budgerigars are typically more expensive than wild-type birds, and have a shorter life span of about seven to nine years. Breeders of English budgerigars show their birds at animal shows. Most captive budgerigars in the pet trade are more similar in size and body conformation to wild budgerigars.
Budgerigars are social animals and require stimulation in the shape of toys and interaction with humans or with other budgerigars. Budgerigars, and especially females, will chew material such as wood. When a budgerigar feels threatened, it will try to perch as high as possible and to bring its feathers close against its body in order to appear thinner.
Tame budgerigars can be taught to speak, whistle and play with humans. Both males and females sing and can learn to mimic sounds and words and do simple tricks, but singing and mimicry are more pronounced and better perfected in males. Females rarely learn to mimic more than a dozen words. Males can easily acquire vocabularies ranging from a few dozen to a hundred words. Pet males, especially those kept alone, are generally the best speakers.
Budgerigars will chew on anything they can find to keep their beaks trimmed. Mineral blocks (ideally enriched with iodine), cuttlebone and soft wooden pieces are suitable for this activity. Cuttlebones also supply calcium, essential for the proper forming of eggs and bone solidity. In captivity, budgerigars live an average of five to eight years, but life spans of 15–20 years have been reported. The life span depends on breed, lineage, and health, being highly influenced by exercise and diet. Budgerigars have been known to cause "bird fancier's lung" in sensitive people, a type of hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Apart from a handful of illnesses, diseases of the species are not transmittable to humans.
Colour mutations
Main article: Budgerigar colour genetics
All captive budgerigars are divided into two basic series of colours; namely, white-based (blue, grey and white) and yellow-based (green, grey-green and yellow). Presently, at least 32 primary mutations (including violet) occur, enabling hundreds of possible secondary mutations (stable combined primary mutations) and colour varieties (unstable combined mutations).
Mimicry
Main article: Talking bird
Male specimens of budgerigars can be skilled at mimicking human speech.
Puck, a male budgerigar owned by American Camille Jordan, holds the world record for the largest vocabulary of any bird, at 1,728 words. Puck died in 1994, with the record first appearing in the 1995 edition of Guinness World Records.
In 2001, recordings of a budgerigar called Victor got some attention from the media. Victor's owner, Ryan B. Reynolds of Canada, stated Victor was able to engage in contextual conversation and predict the future. Although some believe the animal was able to predict his own death as was claimed, further study on the subject is difficult without the bird. As of 2001, the recordings still remain to be verified by scientific analysis. Critics argue Victor's speech in the recordings is not coherent enough to be determined as spoken in context.
The budgerigar "Disco" became Internet famous in 2013. As of 2023, Disco had been viewed over 24,198,346 times on his YouTube channel. Some of Disco's most repeated phrases included, "I am not a crook" and "Nobody puts baby bird in a corner!". Disco died in 2017.
In popular culture
Small bathing suits for men, commonly referred to as togs or "Speedos", are informally called "budgie smugglers" in Australia. The phrase is humorously based on the appearance of the tight-fitting cloth around the male's genitals looking like a small budgie. The phrase was officially added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016
Two nuzzling mares in a sunrise light. The depicted horses are part of a project of turning former military base into a living steppe. Taken in Milovice, Czech republic.
For many years I have tried to photograph this laneway but with little success mainly because of limited space and poor lighting.
On Monday I purchased a Voigtlander 15mm which is an ultra-wide-angle lens so I decided to give it a try within the alleyway and here is one of the images. The lens is fully manual so it it is not easy to use without introducing high levels of distortion. White balance was another major problem.
Walking down Essex Street East it’s easy to miss the entrance to this hidden laneway, but for those in the know it is a handy shortcut between Temple Bar and Dame Street.
If you look down the dark laneway beside the Dublin Theatre Festival Office and you will see original artwork by Dublin street artist Maser ‘I’d Rather Trust a Dealer on a Badly Lit Street Corner, than a Criminal in a Three Piece Suit’.
If you are brave enough to walk down the lane you will see various items of street art and you will be surprised when this narrow lane opens out onto a small square, framed by the Olympia Theatre. Continue along the laneway by the side of the Olympia Theatre
and pass under the sign for Brogan’s Bar, before Crampton Court opens out onto Dame Street.
Anna Doran, a Dublin Street Artist, tried to re-invent one end of the lane as ‘Love Lane’. I have been a fan of Anna for a number of years ... ever since I saw her painted traffic control cabinet on Bolton Street. You can also some of her work on the walls of the "Hungry Mexican" restaurant in Bodkin's on Bolton Street.
Be aware that this laneway attracts some anti-social behaviour particularly in the lane on the Temple Bar side.
Love the Lanes is a joint initiative between Dublin City Council and the Temple Bar Company to pilot solutions and interventions to address issues in the laneways of Temple Bar. Over the years these lanes have fallen into disuse and have become magnets for anti-social behaviour. The stated goal is to reactivate these lanes for people to use and enjoy through creative intervention.
The project was launched on 21st March 2014 with an open call for new ideas. The response from the public was remarkable and shows that there is a real desire by the public to bring life back into the laneways in this historic part of the city. The main focus for the project was Adair and Bedford Lanes, Copper Alley and Crampton Court. 10 proposals were shortlisted and are being developed for implementation on the Laneways of Temple Bar with the support of residents and businesses.
A number of ideas were trialled in 2015 while others require financial investment and a longer timeline.