Budgie Buddies
Temporarily Closed
Fluttering, twittering, chattering – step into our Budgie Buddies aviary and be surrounded by a flock of colorful little Australian birds! Our budgies – or budgerigars – will fly over and around you, and even eat from a seed stick.
NOTE: Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, our budgie buddies exhibit is temporarily closed.
Discover the Budgies
Whooo's Nearby?
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Seeing super-color
It's all in the UV.
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Like all parrots, budgerigars can see in UV light!
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In this spectrum, their already-colorful plumage is even brighter.
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Fluffy chicks
So cute.
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Budgies are monogamous and breed in large colonies year-round, depending on location. Nesting in fence posts, logs or gum trees, they lay clutches of 4-6 eggs which they incubate for 18-21 days.
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Chicks are born bald, then grow downy gray fluff before fledging blue, green or yellow feathers. Many are hatched here at the Zoo over winter!
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The sound of 25,000 budgies
(Pretty noisy.)
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Highly social birds, budgies can form flocks of up to 25,000 birds. They forage in the morning and can be very noisy!
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Pet budgies (usually males) can mimic human speech and other sounds they hear often.
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Protecting birds
THE THREAT: Budgerigars aren’t threatened in the wild in Australia – there are many of them! But in America many species of small birds are declining, due to disappearing habitat, domestic cats and even climate change.
TAKE ACTION: Make a bird-friendly yard. Plant perennials for hummingbirds and keep tall trees. Put stickers on glass windows and keep your cat inside. And help preserve wild habitat for migrating birds.
Feathery Stories
In the Budgie Buddies exhibit early one morning, there’s a sudden hush. It’s the sound of 100 brand-new budgies, all perched in a row on the roof, and all stopping their chatter in one unified moment. Then abruptly, they dive in perfect formation, like a flashing school of fish, and swoop back up to restart … Continued
On the steps of the Wild Wonders Outdoor Theater, there’s a little boy in a shark T-shirt. He’s clutching a blanket, and staring wide-eyed as an armadillo scuttles across the stage. He looks just like most of the other kids in the audience, who are equally enthralled. But six-year-old Keller is different in a really … Continued
UPDATE: Now over. Thanks for visiting! Q: Where in the world would you find an elephant, a sea turtle and an axolotl all together? A: In Species in the Sand, the new sand sculpture this summer at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium! Beginning mid-May, our sculpting team led by Tacoma native Sue McGrew will return … Continued