Bluie the Musician

We got Bluie 3 years ago. We were drawn to him immediately because he was constantly climbing the cage where he was kept in a pet shop in Ramblas Street (Barcelona, Spain) and didn't seem frightened by our presence. We watched him for a while and finally had to take him home with us. He immediately relaxed at home and started hopping on our finger from day one. We made a little play gym for him with lots of bells and swings. He seemed to have a favourite bell that he used for rubbing his head when he got itchy. One day I heard him ringing the bell energetically but when I looked at him he was miles away from it. I thought "That's fast! a second ago he was by his bell and now he's so far from it!" until I realised that he was making the sound of that particular bell himself.

I am a musician and Bluie has literally helped me write each one of my songs. He was obviously a musical bird! Every time I picked up the guitar Bluie would get ready for the session by shaking his feathers. He would soon start to chirp along as I was singing and he became very enthusiastic every time I started to write a new song. When I had trouble finding a good chorus Bluie would help me by chirping very loudly and enthusiastically as soon as he liked what I was writing. Sometimes he would even flap his wings. But if he didn't think much of the new part he would sit on his perch as quietly as possible. I followed his advice many times and realised later how right he was! I have now written a lot of songs and Bluie has played an important part in all of them.

We also have a cat named Mika. She's a very sweet kitty and she became very used to seeing Bluie waddling around the house. When she was very young we taught her to keep her paws off Bluie and she soon received the message. She watched Bluie but never made an attempt to catch him. She knew better! But Bluie was no idiot either! He would approach Mika and bite her little Persian nose if she was too near him. So Mika soon learnt to keep her distance! She was literally fightened of Bluie!

But unfortunately Bluie had a fatal accident when escaping from a female parakeet that didn't like him much. She wasn't ours but my grandmother's, and Bluie wasn't used to the presence of other birds, so they never got on together. She was a bully and Bluie was very suspicious of her! One day my boyfriend was holding Bluie when he suddenly flew off in fear and knocked his head badly against a piece of furniture. He had a stroke. The vet kept giving him cortisone but he was in a very bad state. He lost his sight and had no sense of balance. He died 2 months after the accident. It was very sad. We buried him and remember him every day. For a long time it was very difficult for me to play the songs that we both wrote.

Budgies are so intelligent and affectionate. We're now thinking of getting another one.

- Submitted by rdeane@ptbo.igs.net

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