Expert: Chrys Meatyard - 4/3/2007

Question
Hiya,

My (supposedly - acc to seller) Male budgie is now 1,5yrs old and never did develop that typical bluish colour of the cere. Instead, it has a pale beige almost white colour and it's also quite dry, allthough not flaky as such.

His eyes are black -no albino- with a white ring around the iris. But he(she?) does also have a very faint purple ring around his nostrils.

As for the colouring, he's all bright green except for the head, which is yellow.(No black stripes, just light gray). About 1 month ago I got him a mature female and thought that it might make him develop the blue cere, but nothing seems to happen.
The female sings beautifully whereas my green little budgie only seem to have one vocalbulary (Squeek)
Apart from that he doesn't bite as hard as she does, but I guess that could depend..
I.Am.Thoroughly.Confused! And this is not my first budgie either:)

Very grateful for an answer!

Answer
Hi, Katja.  Thanks for posting!

Sounds to me like you have their sexes reversed.  The bird with the beige almost white color, dry cere I believe is a female.

The female you said that sings beautifully...I think this bird is a male.  Female budgies don't usually sing, but male budgies do!  Another hint that this bird is a female is the hardness of the bite...females usually bite harder than males do because they are the last defense against predators when they have eggs/babies (if a predator gets past a male on the outside of the nest, the predator has to contend with the female inside the nest, thus, the need for a female to bite harder).

Feather coloring in budgies has nothing to do with determining sex.  A blue cere isn't going to develop in a bird that is female!  

Chrys