I haven't seen the budgies at the lake.
I bred show budgies for about 10 years (mainly cinnamon, grey and lutino). I
haven't kept them for 10 years but have tried to keep track of show budgies and
pet shop budgies.
Looking at the photo it looks to me to be a cinnamon green male. Cinnamons have
dark brown, rather than black scalloped backs and a slightly different shade of
green to normals (they can vary a lot). This impression may be just due to the
digital photograph/ camera. If the bird is a cinnamon then it is most likely
they are escapees.
Milburn comments about 'blue cere' are basically right. But in practice it is
rare for adult females to have blue ceres, usually it is patchy and it is very
rare for them to have an all blue cere. When females get 'blue' ceres it looks
like it has a pinkish or reddish tinge. Males can lose condition and get brown
patches or be pale blue but the colour is still blue. However it is reasonably
common for YOUNG females to have blue/pinkish ceres. The blue cere changes
colour after a few months. Young birds out of the nest have forehead bars to
the beak that progressively are lost. The bird in the photo is an adult male.
The simplest explanation is usually the best- ie two males.
Two males will feed each other and mate, especially when they have no other
options. If they have been together for a while one will be dominant and one
subordinate rather than them alternating. They will act like a couple, budgies
are very social.
They seem to be pretty tame which makes me think they are escapees.
I think Paul Taylors comments do not rule out them being captive birds. Most
birds kept in aviaries will have perfectly fine tail feathers as will many cage
kept birds. In budgies, green pied birds have yellow splotches/spots rather
than white because they have a yellow base colour (blue birds have white). Pied
is a less common mutation in budgies than in zebra finches. Normal green is by
far the most common colour in budgies, still. Common budgie mutations are grey
green, cinnamon, lutino, clearwing, pied, with equivalents in blue series.
I am not sure what comments about females having different 'structure' refers
to. Show budgies are a lot bigger than wild type birds, and with varying degree
of show blood in pet bird stock I think it would be very difficult to pick a
male from female by 'structure' if they are unrelated.
Although I haven't seen the birds I think it is still very likely they are
escapees.
Benj Whitworth
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