The Sentient Budgie
Recapping my research so far, it has definitely proved that budgies are sentient beings. The next step is trying to understand how they think. To do this we have to look at life from their perspective. That would be how a caged bird would feel from the time it is born until it starts to develop it's talking skills. I don't want anyone to feel guilty or get upset that we are doing wrong here though. I believe budgies are very adaptable. Many have longer and happier lives as pets then they would on their own in the wild. I am not sure if I look at larger birds in the same fashion though. The difference is like trying to raise a Saint Bernard in a apartment instead of a poodle. The larger the animal, the more freedom it needs. I remember Victor got out of the house once and when he realized it wasn't what he thought is was, he waited in a tree for me to save him. Later on I recorded him telling me to close up the door because he had all the space he needed in the apartment.
I am going to set up a scenario that might help some people to understand a little more about how a budgie might feel in captivity. I think by understanding how they feel will help us to treat them better and make their stays with us happier ones.
Imagine yourself as a bird, who is naturally free spirited and very intelligent. You are a thinking, caring, loving being, who is born into captivity. The creatures that imprison you are several hundred times larger than you and very ugly too. They have no feathers, or wings and there skin is bare. All you know about them is what you can see when they pass by the cage or look at you through the glass of the pet shop window. You really don't know why you are here in this cage on display either. You see your friends keep disappearing one by one, as the humans take them away. Where are they going? What happens to them once they are taken away? You talk to your friends, who you have been with you, for what would be equal to about two human years. They don't know either. Each day passes with you not knowing who's going to be next. Finally the day comes when it's your turn. Someone grabs you and puts you in this small box and takes you away. Your tiny heart is pounding because you think it may be the last few minutes of your life here in this world .
When you get to the human's domain, you are placed in a cage where there are no other birds. This is the first time you have been alone since you were born. You see these humans going about doing their day to day activities. Once in a while they stop and notice you! Sometimes they growl and make strange noises that scare you. "Am I here for their food, are they going to eat me now," you wonder?
A few days pass and you are still alive. You notice after a while that these strange creatures must like you or else they would have hurt you by now. You chirp and try to talk to them but they either can't hear you or don't understand you. "What are you going to do with me, why am I here?" you chirp. The biggest and ugliest one responds with a few grunts. After a while he leaves you alone and flicks on the strange machine that has people and animals captured in it. What a strange world this is, you think to yourself.
Several more days pass and you notice that the human has been consistently feeding you and giving you water when you need it. Your bored though. You really miss the conversations and the companionship of your friends. You especially miss that cute little hen with the pretty breast feathers, who use to preen yours when you got bored. You wonder what ever happened to her anyway? You have only been here for a few weeks now, but it seems like an eternity. You start to notice that the cage door is left open most of the time so you decide to go out and have a look around. Anything has to be better then sitting in here all day. You are hesitant at first, because your not sure if you can trust these humans yet. For one thing you know that they eat meat and your natural instinct is to stay away from animals like that, unless you want to be their supper.
A few months pass and you start to get use to being in captivity. Much time is spent exploring your surroundings near the cage. The human you have entrusted talks to you and you realize he is trying to communicate with you. After a while you pick up his language by watching what is happening around you and listening to him. It really isn't that hard because you are a master at learning language and you can absorb it many times faster than he knows. There is a problem though. When you try and talk to him, he can't hear you or doesn't understand what you're saying. The main reason for this is because you talk many times faster than him and it is very difficult for you to slow down your thinking process to get through. You also notice that even when you do figure out how to slow down some words, the human doesn't take you seriously. He likes it when you mimic him. He could never believe that you are an intelligent creature who is trying to really communicate. Should you give up or keep trying? Will he ever believe or hear what you are saying? Is it all just a waste of time?
Time passes and you have been here for about one year (10 budgie years) and you still haven't got through yet. You have tried everything, but nothing works. Sometimes he understands the odd word or phrases you say, but most of the time it's like you are not even there. What is it that makes it so hard for humans to understand? Maybe you will just have to accept the fact that you will never be understood and just try to be his friend.
In conclusion, a budgie would have to make a conscious effort to take its relationship further with us by communicating. There could be many different reasons why it decides it will. The first step, and probably the most difficult, is to get it to bond with you enough that it wants to communicate. Once it makes that first step, it takes a constant effort on our part to listen and try to understand what it is saying, or it may give up. Most budgies for some reason or other, unfortunately take the easier route and don't develop their skills. It is also very difficult for them to reproduce our vocal patterns as they are so small and it is not natural for them.
I was just going over some video of Victor and Betty that I took a few weeks prior to Victor's death. It was the first time I looked at them since then and I noticed a few things I missed before. The main thing was when Victor and Betty were quiet and sat in their cage. The video showed that they seemed to be in some kind of deep meditating state similar to sleep but they were still awake. I know this sounds kind of strange but they were both sitting in the cage with their eyes half open. I could see there eye lids fluttering like they were in synchronization . Now that I look back on it, I can remember them doing it quite often, for an hour or so at a time. When we meditate it causes rapid eye movements which produce alpha, and beta waves. I'm starting to believe that this may have been how Victor taught Betty to talk so fast. They were somehow able to pick up these waves and used them as a form of communication. Since Victor left, I do not see Betty do it as often. How this fits into my theory that they are also able to talk many times faster than us is another question. But this theory is supported by some of the recordings I have of Betty talking. After some were slowed down as much as 10 times, and amplified, there were words in the little clicks of her voice. It may be that they are capable of several forms of communication. If so, that would explain how Betty learned to talk so quickly. I am just curious if anyone else has ever seen their budgies doing this and why she hasn't done it since Victor left.
Many people probably wonder how much time I spend teaching Betty and recording her. I have posted quite a few files of her talking during the last week or so. You might think that I record her constantly. I will tell you a little secret. I only spend about 30 minutes a day in training sessions and I usually don't record her for more than 10 minutes per week. I will tell you why that works. As with Victor, Betty understands that the microphone is her means of letting me and other people know what she is thinking. She will come to me and ask me to tape her when she has something important to say. If I was constantly recording her, I would never have the time to go through and analyze all the recordings and I would probably miss a lot of important things. As it goes, I only miss her day to day jabbering with the family. Recording her day to day activities isn't really as important as what she is thinking and what bothers her. The reason I have such short training sessions is because thirty minutes to us could be equal to as much as ten times that to her. Doing too long of a session might cause her to become disinterested very quickly.
Here are a couple of excellent examples of Betty trying to communicate her feelings. She has some problems deciding what she should do about a couple of things. Once she makes that decision, will she be bound to it or can she change her mind like humans?
