Smudgie the Budgie

November 1997 to 6th September 2012

Smudgie was our Christmas present from Bernie's eldest brother Damien and his wife Jo. And yes, he died just short of turning 15! Budgies in the wild live between 5 and 8 years. So he lived twice the life of a wild budgie.

Smudgie was a talker and hand trained. He had in excess of 30 phrases that he could say. He flew regularly when he was young, but less as he aged. He would fly over to visit us. If I was on the computer typing he would bite my moving hand or sit on top of the screen. He would visit my tray at tea time and liked a bit of mash potato off my plate. He would fly up from behind you and run his claws through my hair and fly off laughing (Yes he had a sense of humour).

The second photo is of Smudgie using the toaster oven as a mirror. He would talk to himself for ages to his reflection. He liked to help make a cup of tea. He would fly over and talk to the kettle and to the tea mugs whilst I would make the tea. Some of his phrases were "You wanna a cup of tea" and "Put the kettle on".

Smokie the Budgie

30th December 2012 to 13th February 2016

We bought Smokie on the 30th December 2012, after Smudgie died in September 2012.

Smokie was a completely different budgie to Smudgie. He does not like to be handled. He does not talk as much. He did interact with us in many ways. He liked throwing balls around the cage. We had a horizontal ladder in his cage and he loved to throw them down. He sometimes would land them in his bath. He would sit on the side of the bath and throw the balls in and out.

He LOVES Bells. He would often ring the various bells in his cage, including a large parrot size bell! He would jiggle the chain to ring this or tap it.

He also liked to land on Bernie for a short visit. She can be doing the dishes and have Smokie land on her back, climb to her sholder and maybe stay a while. He would also fly over to visit when she was reading.

So for us, he was ideal. So very different. He past away on 13 February 2016 at the Vet, after finding him on the bottom of his cage in the morning.