Tame Bourke Parakeets and their Differences

Flame in back, Rosie in front. My favorite birds.

This is a photo of my two favorite Bourke parakeets. At present, I have 22 Bourkes and six Splendids.

Actually, these two are brother and sister, although they came from different clutches. Rosie's parents put their youngsters at risk (discussed earlier), so her clutch of four was pulled and handfed very early on. Rosie, in front, grew up with three wonderful siblings and it was difficult to decide which one to keep and which of them to sell. I wanted to keep them all. She was selected because even at a very early age, she always flew to me directly from the cage, or from anywhere else when I called her. That helped me decide to keep her.

Baby Bourkes ready to sell.

I expected to hand feed an unrelated baby and try to match "him" up with her. However, in a later clutch from her parents, one began to feather in a deep rose color. Darker than any of my other birds, I decided to keep him and named him Flame. Now, I have the dilemma of choosing mates for each of them! Instead of decreasing my flock as I wanted to, I'll be adding to it.

Rosie and Flame help tame other babies as they fledge. The wonderful thing about Rosie and Flame is that whenever they come out to fly ... just about every morning ... when it's time to go back in their cage, they go without any trouble. Not so, with many of the babies who often resist going home to a cage and would rather keep flying about the room. Hence, I'm very fond of Rosie and Flame because they are so willing to do whatever I ask of them.  

No matter how many tame youngsters I have out at a time, Rosie is the one who always chooses to stay with me. She gives kisses, let's me kiss her back and stays with me most of the time. She's very affectionate. On the other hand, Flame will sit on my shoulder, but doesn't interact as much. She's curious and investigates anything I'm doing.

We visited North Bend, Oregon's new Boardwalk yesterday. The photos below are taken there. Happy Sunday everyone and God bless you.

Taken from North Bend, Oregon Boardwalk.