Budgie On The Loose

[cindy]

Nice looking budgie, did a head count....nope, not mine!!!!!!!!!

If you catch him and want a buddy I have a few young here!!!!! You could make a pair!!!

[dcompt]

He's beautiful! Good luck with your bird catching expedition.

My sister once found a cockatiel. Some people have all the luck!

[lyzzyjayne]

Be sure to let us know!

[wellingtoncdm]

Do you have any friends or neighbors with a spare parakeet to borrow? I agree with Laura about bringing a friend and cage. God luck!

[30 Seconds to Bob]

Do you have any friends or neighbors with a spare parakeet to borrow?

No, only Cindy, and I haven't really met her yet. Besides I wouldn't take a chance using anyone's bird but one of my own for such "decoy" purposes. Knowing my luck at times, something totally incomprehensible would happen resulting in two birds flying around the beach. Bob

[Acelin_Wolf]

Good luck! Sure is beauty. Hopefully you can get him/her and find his/her home or give them a good one!

[Grant]

Please do catch it Bob! Florida does not need another invasive species. We have too many already.

[cindy]

Do you have any friends or neighbors with a spare parakeet to borrow?

No, only Cindy, and I haven't really met her yet. Besides I wouldn't take a chance using anyone's bird but one of my own for such "decoy" purposes. Knowing my luck at times, something totally incomprehensible would happen resulting in two birds flying around the beach. Bob

Bob unless you use a divided cage, place the budgie friend in one side and leave the doors open to the other half with a bunch of millets in it.

We live like how close???????? minutes!!! What beach/park did you see this blue boy at? chances are he will stay close to a food source he knows is available.

[cindy]

Please do catch it Bob! Florida does not need another invasive species. We have too many already.

Grants mid and southern Florida has everything from small birds to large Macaws flying about.

I lived in Ft Myers and was visiting my friend in the City of Ft. Myers, downtown....at a particular time of the evening before the sun goes down you can see flocks of Macaws flying by to go back to their roosting spots. We have conures and quakers in flocks living across the street in the palms on the golf course!

[DanteD716]

Bob, did you ever go back for it?

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I did go back to try to catch the budgie today. It was not a good day for it, however. Being Labor day, the beach was very crowded, early. I had to park a half mile away and decided to leave the cage in the car. Didn't want to walk all that way with the cage and all my beach gear, just in case i didn't even encounter the bird.
Well the bird was there, and for some unknown reason seems to have at least a curious interest in me. Within minutes of me arriving and making kissing noises with my lips, he appeared from out of the trees. I did have a bag of seed and some millet sprays - neither of which he showed any interest in. This bird is NOT hungry and I seriously doubt could be enticed into a cage with only food as a lure. Mabye another budgie would work.
I was able to approach him within 18 inches (several times) and hold a palm full of seed (then a millet spray) under his nose. He showed no interest in the seeds or millet and continued to eat the wild oats. Any movement i made closer than this 18 inch "comfort zone" would cause him to fly off very fast and very far. He would eventually come back to eat the wild oats. Didn't help either, that any time I tried to approach him, it drew the attention of other beachgoers wondering what I was trying to do.
I'm off from work all this week and may go back again a time or two. I really don't think the cage will work as this bird seems to enjoy his freedom too much. It could possibly work if left out for hours or days, but this is logistically impossible. I think I'd have better luck slowly approaching him with a long-handled net behind my back, followed by some swift network. Wouldn't feel so bad if he had to stay where he is though, as he seems to have everything he needs, seems very healthy and is very smart. Bob

[Zebrafincher]

Good luck with operation "Catch Budgie" 30 seconds to Bob, let us know how it goes. We had a neighbour who re-caught her canary which had escaped from the house by hosing it with water until it couldn't fly and she could capture it!

[Rox]

Good luck and I hope you manage to catch him! If nothing else, it has given you a challenge completely out of the ordinary

I still have the beautiful cinnamon diamond dove I caught in my yard. No one ever claimed her and she has settled in beautifully in my juvie flight. She is not shy to try and take a gap and escape though, so I'm not at all surprised she got out the first time!!

[Rox]

cindy

Do the authorities not try and control the non-indigenous birds/animals in Florida? Here in the Western Cape in SA, you need a permit for basically everything, whether it be indigenous or not. I sometimes think that Cape Nature is going overboard but I can understand where they are coming from. Especially when I hear about flocks of macaws and conures in Florida, lol. I'll be honest though and say the rest of SA doesn't really care and you can buy pretty much any animal, bird or reptile (non-indigenous) from a pet shop without permits in the other provinces.

[cindy]

They try to control more of the illegal imports coming in, they try to make sure if you have past a certain number of birds, selling birds you are licensed. It is very difficult to trap all the domestic type birds that are flying free here. We also have populations of lizards and snakes, some are very much an issue and steps are in place to try to control that. A lot of times owners do not know or care to find alternative places for an unwanted pet, snake or bird and figure...it's tropical just release it. That is against the law to do. Accidently there is not much you can do.

In the case of quakers, they chew through just about anything, a friend raised them and had to double thick wire, inches apart all her quaker flights. This way if she saw that they got through one layer during her daily inspections the second layer would bide her time to fix the inner layer. All it takes is a good size hole for them to squeeze out of and they are all free.

We have quakers and conures that can be seen daily, heard in flocks calling to each other. All it takes is a few to start a colony. Hurricanes, storms can destroy outdoor aviaries. It is just odd to see Black capped conures taking a buzz around the neighborhood when you are use to seeing them in cages!!!! I do not know of any capture program in place for wild "domestic" birds. I guess the question would be is once captured, they are so many...what to do with them and how to house them.