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Friday morning my eyes caught a flash of blue outside in the front yard. It was a blue budgerigar aka parakeet or budgie. I went to the garage and got my bird/butterfly net to try and catch it. I failed. I had to go to work, so I figured if it was still there later I would try later. I feed the wild birds regularly, so there was plenty of birdseed for it to eat and several water baths and a pond for water to drink, so I was not too worried. I resumed my attempts to catch this beautiful mauve blue male budgie on Saturday morning, I had my 10 foot, 8 foot and another ladder spread around the yard. The tallest in my birch tree and the other by my butterfly bushes. I got so close to catching him several times on Saturday and again on Sunday. Monday when I came home from doing my yards I got an idea. I went to my rabbits and removed the bottom from one of my extra cages and set it up over the seed in the driveway with a stick propping it and a string from the stick into the house. I waited and first a sparrow and a gold finch went in to eat the seed, then came the budgie. I waited till it was right, pulled the string and flipped the cage over. Well, try again. I set it up and this time put the string at the bottom of the stick and not the top and when he was again in the cage I pulled the string. Voila, Nope, dang it, there was a 4 inch hole in the side of the cage that I missed and he flew out of it. Time was running out as the sun was setting and all the birds would be going to roost. I repaired the hole, set it up again and this time I caught the little plucker. He is a pretty little guy and now I need to get him a mate.
I waited till it was right, pulled the string and flipped the cage over. Well, try again. I set it up and this time put the string at the bottom of the stick and not the top and when he was again in the cage I pulled the string.
Reading this, all I could hear was Sylvester's voice saying, "Sufferin' succotash!" It's lucky you caught him before a cat did.
I have four dogs and a cat does not stand a chance in my yard. I do not think I have seen a cat in my yard in over 6 months. I have 3 indoor cats and they never go outside. All the wild birds seem to know that my yard is a safe haven for them. I have 3 birdhouse and one is a duplex that has had the same birds return 4 years in a row now. I also have 2 large communal sparrow nest in my tree dracaena and another large nest in my honeysuckle. One pair of birds are on their 3rd clutch of babies and I expect them to start on a 4 clutch as soon as these fledge and fly the nest. I have probably had over 40 baby birds hatch out from my yard. I also have well over 300 feet of hedgerow surrounding my property. Years ago I purchased an entire aviary and overnight I had 77 budgies, so I am very familiar with parakeets.
The little guy does not have a band, so he was not a bird bought from a store. He is also quite small, so I think he is less than a year, but over six months because his sere is already a bright blue. I think he may have been a baby from a back yard breeder. He likes country western music so far.
Aw, what a cutie pie My first pet was a green parakeet...I'm very fond of them. Is it common to see them just flying around outside? I've never seen one outside of a pet store/animal rescue.
How did he react to being caught? How is he behaving?
I'm not trying to be a PITA, but if he was born in the wild from wild parents (breeder escapees), it would be cruel to cage him. If he shows signs of stress, you might want to let him go, unless it gets to be below freezing where you are in the winter. Birds born in the wild never adapt to life in captivity.
From the day I spotted him in my yard, I was able to get within a few feet of him. He was unsure of his flying abilities, but by Monday morning he was keeping up with the sparrows and finches. He is not a biter, nor is he flighty if I go near his cage. He also listens when I talk to him. He is way too tame to be wild bred and it is not usual for them to breed in the wild here in far northern California. The survival of a bird like him in the wild is very slim, either a hawk or cat would find a startling blue bird easy to pick off in a large flock of birds. That and when all the birds migrated, he would not know what to do. He is better off being caught and caged, then to be a bunch of blue feathers floating in the wind.
He is better off being caught and caged, then to be a bunch of blue feathers floating in the wind.
I agree OP - actually, when I read about your first mishap with the cage, the fact that it returned at all actually made me think it was an escapee as I couldn't fathom a wild bird returning so soon if at all.
It's quite something it's survived at all - and quite frankly, it probably wouldn't have for much longer.
It's actually really scary for a tame bird to be out in the big, bad world. All their reference points are gone. One of our parrots escaped once... That had to be one of the longest days of my life and his too probably, seeing as he needed a few days to recover from his ordeal.
77? Good grief. We've got two parrots and that's plenty.
In 1994 I got a job as a caretaker for an aviary that had 65 parrots. My boss had hyacinths, blue and gold and scarlet macaws, he also had eclectus, galahs and assorted amazons. In the five years that I worked for him, I never lost or let a bird escape. He lost 3 in the time I worked for him and when his oldest and first bird got loose when my boss forgot to close the cage door, the poor thing did not know what to do. It went from tree to tree and kept getting higher each time. It was like he knew to fly up but did not comprehend flying back down. On its third day of freedom and fright I managed to catch it by holding a peanut in one hand and an outstretched branch in the other. When the bird landed on the branch, I coaxed it close enough to grab it by the feet. My boss was thrilled, he had given up hope. This aviary was up in the hills, back in the woods and 5 miles from the nearest small village. I have a blue crowned conure that my boss found one day out in his aviary and gave to me. Just a few months ago I was talking to a worker at the feed store I frequent and he told me that he had sold a baby blue crowned conure to a friend in the town that was 5 miles from my bosses aviary and that that friend lost the bird the same time that we found him. This aviary that I worked for is 65 miles south from where I live . Justin and I both think my conure is the same one his friend lost.
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He is a pretty little guy and now I need to get him a mate.
My first pet was a green parakeet...I'm very fond of them. Is it common to see them just flying around outside? I've never seen one outside of a pet store/animal rescue.
Good grief. We've got two parrots and that's plenty. 
