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I was viewing a flock of Budgerigars the other
day in a not too distant woodland. After not having seen any for some months, I
was immediately struck by their extraordinary beauty. My first thought was "Why
would anybody bother to try to breed all of those odd "show' birds?" as they
have never matched the gorgeous, vivid plumage of the wild bird in my view.
I'm certain you could buy an argument here but I regard the humble
wild budgie as one of the most beautiful of parrots.
I was discussing this with a person from Ohio, in
the USA, who informed me that he and all his friends had caged budgies when he
was growing up in the States so nobody would be bothering to smuggle wild birds,
I should imagine.
The good news is that the dawn chorus has just
started on the shores of Roebuck Bay and I'm returning to that woodland in
about 40 minutes time. It's also full of Cockatiels and Red-browed Pardalotes at
the moment. The bad news? There ain't none.
Ricki Coughlan
Broome WA
"In my hand I held the most remarkable of all
living things, a creature of astounding abilities that elude our understanding,
of extraordinary, even bizarre senses, of stamina and endurance far surpassing
anything else in the animal world. . . . I held that truly awesome enigma, a
bird." (Fisher)
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