“Happy Budgies” – wild budgerigar sounds promote wellbeing of pet birds
Oct 21st, 2008 by andrew skeoch
To see budgerigars in the wild is a wonderful experience. In the drier parts of Australia, they are found in sometimes huge flocks, taking to the air with a roar of wings, their green and yellow plumage flashing against the blue sky. When they alight, trees can be full of chattering budgies, clustering together, preening each other, fluttering from one branch to another. It is one of the delights of the outback.
So perhaps you can understand why for us, the thought of these beautiful little birds in captivity is saddening. Nevertheless, we can appreciate how pet birds bring joy to so many people.
Over the years, we have heard from many owners who report that playing our birdsong recordings seems to be beneficial for their feathered friends. Anxious birds were observed to calm down when they heard other birdsong, and lethargic ones seemed to become active and engaged, some singing for the first time.
Here are some examples of what we’ve heard:
“Since its mate died a year ago, I could see our pet Budgie was bored and under-stimulated. I have been trying to liven it up a bit in many ways (music, diet, toys…), but without much success. I bought your ‘Spirit of the Outback’ CD and played it back to our budgie. It went crazy instantly and started eating more, flying more and socialising more with us!!! By any chance, would you have any other recordings of budgies in any situation? Thanks for the good work, you have made a major impact in a life (of the budgie!).”
“Do you have, or can you recommend, a recording of budgies in the wild? Something my daughter can play for her birds to help them have that “part of the flock” feeling?”
At first we were surprised at these dramatic changes in behaviour, but it is easily understandable. Social bird species, such as budgies, are often favoured for aviaries because we enjoy watching them interact. With all birds, but especially these social species, vocalising and communicating is a vital part of their survival and wellbeing. So it makes sense that hearing the sounds of their own kind should have a profound impact on their mental and emotional wellbeing. For a budgerigar, silence must be very disturbing.
We can perhaps understand what it may be like for them, because humans are pretty social too (most of us 
. For instance, when we’re on our own at home, many of us will put the TV or talkback radio on in the background. We may not be watching or even listening all that closely, it is just comforting in some way to have a voice in the background. Birds are likely similar, and this is why they respond to birdsong in their immediate environment.
For many years, we have been recommending our ‘Spirit of the Outback’ album for budgie owners, as it has some nice calling from them (plus it is a great listen all round). But we felt that something ‘more budgie’ would be appreciated. Hence (and after many requests from bird owners!) we have created an album specifically for our feathered listeners. For their wellbeing.
“Happy Budgies” is recorded in central Australia – budgie country! It features the sounds of wild budgerigars interacting contentedly in their natural environment, plus a diversity of other outback birdsong. We have avoided any distress calls, or calls of obvious predators. It begins with the sounds of a flock of budgies waking in the morning; the chatter of the communal roost, then flying off to feed, calling on the wing and still communicating amiably. Later we hear quiet, contented subsong, and the sounds of preening and group interaction.
Why the title “Happy Budgies”? Well, for us, seeing them in the wild brings happiness. I don’t know whether wild budgies really are ‘happy’, but they often seem to be, they appear to be having a great time. And ultimately, we hope that it makes your budgie happy to listen to these sounds.
Have a listen to a sound sample from the album.
“Happy Budgies” is only available for digital download from our online shop.
(We anticipate that some people may prefer to have this album on CD, for instance so they can put it on loop from their CD player whilst out during the day. At this stage, we have no plans for it to be available in retail outlets. However we can supply it on CD – contact us for details. Alternately, one can always burn the digital download version to CD-R at home)
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Hi found ur site whilst searching for some budgie bird song – we’ve recently adopted ‘Callum’ who is a blue budgie which was rescued from my partners Aircraft Maintenance Hangar here in Norwich Norfolk England a few months ago – ‘Callum’ was in a poor state as was starving and begging for food from the Engineers in the Hangar and of course everyone took pity on him..So now he’s become part of our little family and as he is on his own altho already quite lively I felt that some additional stimulus might help him…We played ur sample music that u have on here and he’s in his element as I type this..Needless to say I will b downloading the full version which we will b able to put on to help keep him company…It certainly seems to be doing the trick anyway!!
Many thanks & best regards
Kerry
One of my life long ambitions yet to be accomplished is to see a large flock of budgerigars in the wild. Could you please advise me where to go to see a flock of budgies in the wild. Your help and any suggestions would be appreciated.
Regards
Terry
Hi Terry,
Yes, a large flock of budgies is truly something special to behold. The best places we know to see them is N’Dhala Gorge in the MacDonnell Ranges (The Budgies on ‘Spirit of the Outback’ were recorded there). The Painted Desert on the Oodnadata and Birdsville tracks is where we recorded ‘Happy Budgies! I hope this helps. In both places they were present in large flocks and I reckon you would have luck all year round.
Good luck, even if you don’t get to see them I hope you will have a wonderful time looking.
All the best,
Sarah
I purchased “Happy Budgies” as a digital download several weeks back. ‘George’ , ‘Mildred’ , & ‘Maxine’ wish to pass on their thanks to Andrew and Sarah. ……. They love it !
OH MY GOSH! The picture with thefive green budgies sitting in a circle on the branch is phenomenal! I have two budgies at home, which are actually sitting on the back of my computer chair. Male, 8 year old Perry who is blue, and Male 4 month year old Tweety who is green. I love them to bits, anyways, all your pictures are amazing
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Megan
Hello, I am playing the sample for my budgies and they are thrilled. I tried to click the link to download it but it said the “URL was not found”. Can you email me a link or let me know where I can go to get “Happy Budgies”?
Thank you!
Natalia
“…the thought of these beautiful little birds in captivity is saddening.”
If it’s any consolation, our budgies have the run of the house during the day. They fly around, perch on the window ledges and watch what’s going on, climb the curtains, and so on.
I listen to the sound sample on your website and the recording is amazing! It is so delightful to hear this little birds, so often chirping in pet shops, as they interact with each other and fly freely in their homeland, without cages, but with lots of feathery friends instead. Although I think that because of their tiny size their life even in captivity can be happy, on condition that we provide them with plenty (and I really mean plenty!) space to fly, the most heart-breaking thought for me is, that people often keep them as single pets, without giving them a chance to interact with any other budgie believing, that human companionship is enough. I confess, that some time ago I was sharing such an opinion too (I kept a single cockatiel), but now, after I bought another male tiel, I can say with all my conviction, that this is not true! Now I see how much not only budgies, but also cockatiels need at least one companion of their own kind and how much I had wronged my older male by separating him from other tiels as a very young, although independent bird and keeping him almost two years in solitude. It is saddening, that after such a period of loneliness and more than a year together with his new friend, he still has got problems with interacting with the second parrot, but I believe their relations may improve, because they live together in one cage quite peacefully. I hope that by Your recording of wild budgerigars at least some owners of single budgies will understand, that in the wild these birds are always surrounded by other budgies and that their pets also deserve budgie companionship.
Keep up the good work!
By the way, as an owner of two cockatiels I would be grateful to find out one day about Your new CD entitled: “Happy cockatiels”.
hi,
i have a single male budgie around 8 months old who really is a great companion . unfortunately he has been alone for a few days as i went on vacation and when i returned i found that he was screeching a lot – his usual cute chirpiness had turned to screams ! this is something new for him and completely out of character . i think the loneliness got to him . do you have something that will calm him down ? i spent months training him to sing adorably and he’s more like a pet dog than a budgie – has an open cage all day , sits on my shoulder as i walk through the house , pecks at my fingers as i type , calls for me if i leave the room , and jumps around excitedly when i get home – so i really want to bring that back out of him . i really think the sounds of the other budgies will calm him (judging by the sample i tried) – but the link for the online store doesn’t seem to work . please could you re-link it or let me know the website , and also what you suggest could be done to stop the screaming ? a friend is having a similar issue after she left her budgie alone for the first time .
thanks very much .
Hi! I just bought two blue budgies and they were terrified when I got them home. They sat together and didn’t move, didn’t eat, didn’t chirp at all so I was very worried about them. Then I started researching the sounds in google and came upon your website. I bought the album download, and all of a sudden my birds “came to life”. It was so cute and funny to see, they now felt like they were home. They started chirping and chatting away, explored their cage, ate and preened themselves. What a difference this album has made for me and my new little friends. Thank you so much for recording these albums!