THE Daily Mail is one of many papers that carry a story of intrigue and murder in the budgerigar breeding world. Feathers are flying after one of Britain’s top breeders found his prize bird had been “stamped on” and many more stolen from his aviary the night before a show. What makes the Mail’s report intriguing – and certainly worth tweeting – is a “Feathery Fact File” full of incredible assertions that require a more detailied explanation. So with the help of the internet, we’ll try to put some feathers on the bones.
- A Canadian budgie called Victor was said to be able to engage in conversation.
In an interview with the Toronto Star’s Living section in 1992, when asked who his favourite TV personality was, Victor replied: “Hey man. That has to be William Shatner. He freaks me out. I hatched just round the corner from where he went to school in Cote St-Luc, Quebec, and all the chicks were, like, mad on him. What really freaks me though, is some dudes have this problem with where reality ends and fantasy begins. They can’t, like, differentiate between Shatner the man and Kirk the spaceman. They have no concept of the real world. They can’t lift their vision above the sandpaper – and that really screws me up. Yeh.”
- Sparkie, from Newcastle, had a repertoire that included eight nursery rhymes. He made a record that sold 20,000 copies.
Sparkie Williams hatched in the Forest Hall area of Newcastle during the 1950s and was owned by Mrs Mattie Williams. In a rare clip of Tyneside band The Animals performing House of the Rising Sun, Sparkie can be momentarily glimpsed hopping along the top of Alan Price’s electric organ towards the end of the session. This is the only film footage of Sparkie that has survived. He went on to perform live sessions with Lindisfarne and accompany Sting during the latter’s solo career. According to NME, Sting ended the association with the memorable quote: “Why man. You’re a big budgie, but you’re in bad shape.”
- In 1995 a budgie called Puck was said by Guinness World Records to have the largest vocabulary of any bird, at 1,728 words.
Puck was taken on by the Daily Mail in 1997 to write under the pseudonym Richard Littlejohn.
- During the last 20 years there has been a series of budgie rustlings and assassinations. Breeders say a “Mr Big” is behind them.
In 1992 an Italian budgie called Chico was found hanging above the high-water mark under Blackfriars Bridge in London. In 1996 a Bulgarian budgie was stabbed with the poisoned tip of an umbrella in Knightsbridge. Conspiracy theorists maintain the assassinations are linked to the deaths of two prominent British budgies in a Paris road crash the following year. As yet, no one has blown the whistle. Police continue to parrot the same old line that they are isolated incidents.
- In 2008 a breeder was accused of gluing a false tail feather on a bird with nail varnish.
The charge didn’t stick. Apparently this guy’s just been given a good job at Barclay’s bank.
i think budgies are cute:)