Behavior of birds living in captivity

Before bringing budgies into the house, we read literature about these birds. There were a lot of books. Evgeny Zakharov gives good information for readers in the book “Budgerigars”. He tells in detail how to distinguish a young parrot from an adult, a healthy one from a sick one, how to choose the right cage, care for the birds, and what food to give. Undoubtedly, S.V. Khvorostukhina provides important information for those who want to have pets in their home. in the brochure “Budgerigars”, where he talks about the history of breeding and biological characteristics of birds, color variations. All other sections in this book are very similar to those presented in almost all other literature: feeding birds, caring for them, diseases, etc.

Why do they survive in nature?

From the same source we learned that budgerigars are the smallest and most peaceful of this genus of birds. In natural conditions, they often become victims of predators. And then the question arose: “What helps these defenseless birds preserve their species in nature?” We learned that this species of parrot leads a flocking lifestyle, the features of which are discussed by N.M. Chernova in the textbook “Ecology”: “in birds, flocks are formed by those species that are characterized by colonial nesting or collective feeding.”

Having received certain knowledge, we made the following assumptions:

If budgerigars lead a gregarious lifestyle, it means that they can apparently adapt to each other quite easily to preserve themselves and their offspring.
If a tragedy occurs with one of the partners during hatching, then the second partner...

This is where the question arose: what does the second partner do? – abandons the clutch, continues to take care of the offspring, or are there other options?

In any case, the answer must be sought in the behavioral reactions of parrots, characteristic of birds of a flocking lifestyle. But how to prove it?

Due to the impossibility of testing our assumptions in the natural habitat of this bird species (South Australia), we decided to begin studying the behavioral reactions of budgerigars during the mating season under experimental conditions, creating life situations for them that would be possible in the wild.

We took up literature again. Rakhmanov A.I. wrote several books about budgies: “Teaching parrots to “talk.” Overview of species. Behavior. Training methods”, “Training and education of parrots”. We learned that “at home, behavioral motives develop that would not develop under normal conditions…. Domesticated species of parrots that are bred in cages have their biological cycles disrupted to a greater or lesser extent.” However, “...small parrots reproduce well in captivity, even when kept in cages. The main difficulty... is not feeding and creating special conditions, but the selection of pairs...” “In parrots, mate selection is an important prerequisite for successful reproduction. Mated birds know each other well, distinguish their partner from other parrots and are constantly together”, here “like” and “antipathy” play a decisive role... In artificially created pairs, birds sometimes do not breed offspring for several years, although there are resources for this all conditions. ...In active birds, mating occurs quickly. The parrot, having chosen a female, constantly looks after her, sorts out the feathers of her friend, making characteristic sounds, and constantly feeds her from her beak. The female reciprocates: bows her head, sits with half-closed eyes; birds often kiss. After this, their attachment to each other is fixed for life and the spouses can only be separated by death.”

We found a lot of useful information in the book Gurzhiy A. and Gurzhiy E. “Budgerigars”, which gives practical advice to readers, for example: how many days do eggs or chicks develop before leaving the nest, how to feed parents and chicks. In this book we read that “bird eggs have special adaptations (chalaza), thanks to which the embryo is always on top. Therefore, bird eggs can be turned over.” Birds in the nest often do this themselves.

Parrot Boris. Turquoise with black waves

This is our favorite parrot - he is very kind, calm in character, devoted to his female, a very good father to his chicks. He quickly finds a common language with new parrots that appear in the cage and does not show his superiority. When other parrots fly at him for food or for some other reason, he does not contact them and flies to another perch. And sometimes he will scare them a little and drive them away. But this does not mean that he is afraid of other birds, he just does not want to fight with them. When Kiryusha (another male) did not have his own mate, he tried to court Boris’s girlfriend. Boris protected his female and drove Kirill away. But there were no cases of Boris getting into a big fight with anyone. He is smart, curious, and sings well. He recognizes us and is not afraid.

His female is Stella. The plumage is yellow-green (free-living parrots often have this color). Cocky in character, even a little aggressive. Sometimes it hits its own and other people's chicks. She is a good layer, hatches many chicks, but does not always feed her chicks to the required age. Two chicks died because she stopped feeding them.

Here is the parrot Kiryusha. He is not only a very beautiful parrot, rare in plumage (white, with a turquoise back), but very active, brave, cocky, and very curious. It seems that he is aware of his external superiority over other parrots. In human society, such people are called “dandies.” When the birds are given food, Kiryusha will definitely fly up first. He is easy to communicate with other parrots, but also does not allow himself to be offended. And at the same time, he is a good family man. When this male had chicks, he began to take care of the chicks, feed them and the female.

Kiryusha's girlfriend is Diana. Its plumage is light turquoise with a white head. By character she is calm, soft, but on occasion she can also stand up for herself and protect her nest. There was such a case: once the second couple’s house was removed for some time for cleaning, and the birds themselves were left in a common cage. Diana defended her nest and fought with the second female; when she had chicks, Diana took good care of them and even fed other people's chicks (during the experiment, which will be discussed below).

Dina. Daughter of Boris and Stella (very similar to her mother). During the research, this female lived in a common cage without a male. Her partner (Stepan) recently died while nesting. Dina was really stressed back then.

She was very frightened, stopped heating eggs in the house, did not eat for a long time (2 days) and completely stopped singing. I was very worried about what happened. And when the couple (Boris and Stella) had eggs in their house, she began to look into their house, go in there when the female was away and break the eggs. I had to put her in another cage. Apparently, Dina was jealous of the couple laying eggs and wanted to harm them.

During the mating season, the room where the parrots live becomes very noisy: the males begin to court the females, talk a lot, and puff out their cheeks. While caring for their chosen ones, they feed their girlfriends, and they sit voluntarily on a perch... (A similar situation is described in the source “www.zooclub.ru”: “A parrot, having chosen a female, constantly looks after her, sorts out the feathers of her friend, making noises This is characteristic sounds, and constantly feeds her from the beak. The female reciprocates: bows her head, sits with half-closed eyes; the birds often kiss.")

Every day we look into the house. After about 2 weeks, the first egg appears in the nest; the female lays eggs every other day. And after 20 days the first chick hatched. How small and scary he is at first. Its appearance changes every day. By the end of the first week, the eyes open and feather stumps begin to sprout. The parrot becomes like a kind of hedgehog. The most interesting thing is when the chicks fledge. This occurs at the age of 16-17 days. Who will they be like? What colors will they be? Maybe a chick will appear with an unusual coloring? What kind of character will they have? All these observations bring us great joy.