Introduction of Victor the Budgie

Introduction

Some people get confused between a parakeet and a budgerigar, also called budgie. They often think they are the same thing. A budgie is always a parakeet but a parakeet isn't always a budgie. Usually a parakeet means small parrot. There are a number of birds in the psittacine family that have parakeet in their name. Therefore a budgie is a type of parakeet

By the time Victor was one year old he could say the alphabet all the way through and repeat many nursery rhymes and verses. At about two years old, his talking abilities were so good I started a website and began posting his recordings. After a while I noticed that he was not just mimicking, but actually talking in context. Late in 2000, I began to keep a weekly journal which updated people who came to this site on his progress. I wanted to prove to the world once and for all that parrots could communicate and talk in context. I believed Victor's recordings would do that. As a result of the time I spent trying to understand him better, and his willingness to learn and be recorded, his communication abilities developed at an extremely fast pace. He proved that he could not only talk in context but was multi-talented in a number of other areas as well.

Sadly, Victor suddenly became very ill and died on March 2, 2001. After his death I have spent many hours working on inproving his sites and analyzing his recordings in the hope that one day the scientific community will recognize this evidence as credible research. My goal is to help make others aware that animal intelligence goes far beyond that which we currently understand or believe. I realize that things like this take time and many researchers work for years before they are acknowledged. Additionally ,some people may not believe this is possible. Therefore, I have presented this information in the most reliable way I know; audio and video.

Victor's sites consist of four other sites, with several hundred pages of text and audio files. Each one of his recordings has something different to be discovered about parrot intelligence. Additionally, I continued working with his mate and three other budgies. They have also shown similar abilities for using context. Victor had passed on much of his knowledge to his mate Betty, and she in turn passed it on to her new companions. I am currently working on a separate website just for them.

Most people find Victor's recordings easier to understand as they adapt to his budgie accent. Budgies are not like most parrots. They seldom sound like their trainers. They can talk extremely fast and their voices are so small that the recordings sometimes have to be amplified to hear them. It is often necessary to play them several times, section by section to understand them as well, but I believe it to be well worth the time as you will be amazed at how intelligent they truly are.

Thank you very much for visiting this site and I hope you enjoy it.

Ryan Reynolds