hi all!

 

Smokey is doing pretty well in terms of taming. He lets me get hold of him, steps up onto my finger and doesn't bite or screechwhen being handled. He has his wings clipped. I have noticed that when he has been out for a bit of a run and a flap, he holds his right wing out from his body just a little. It is usually toward the end of our handling sessions, and after he has tried a few times to get from the floor up to his cage in one go (it is too far for him, so he usually flaps his way up onto the table, then into his cage). Otherwise, he is a happy cheeky budgie.

 

At first i though maybe it had something to do with having his wings clipped, but then I remembered my previous budgie doing it as well, and his wings weren't clipped. Are they being melodramatic, and pretending just to get some sort of attention (in Smokey's case, to be picked up and put back into his cage, rather than having to get himself there), or might he actually have a sore wing? Could it just be that his little wings don't get a lot of exercise so when he does go for a fly, they get that same feeling our legs get when we go for a well-intentioned run after six months of winter idleness?

 

I don't theink there's anything really drastic going on, becuase it isn't stopping him from doing the crazy grip the perch and flap wildly thing, but any suggestions or explanations would be much appreciated!

I doubt its a sore wing. I see budgies do it all the time. i think its a bit of a stress reflex.