A budgerigar parakeet with green plumage and yellow-black markings indoors in a pet environment. 4:09
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Budgie says he's a doctor, not a parakeet

Budgies are hardwired to seek out company. Disco has a mirror, a heap of toys and one busy human, and he knows how to get her attention. more

A mirror in his cage helps for a while. Disco does not see himself in it. To him it is more like a buddy who comes and goes. Pet budgies often live alone, and Disco is very attached to the people he lives with.

A yellow-green budgie with black stripes on its head and a blue beak looks to the side against a blurred background. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Budgies are made for flocks, and Disco is the only bird at home.

Right now the young woman who looks after him is busy in the next room, and Disco doesn't think much of that. He gets cranky about it. Then he gets clever, because he has learned a few playful tricks for getting noticed.

The toys get their turn. He pecks at a pink one and gives it a fair try. But a toy never answers back, and an answer is what Disco is after.

A yellow-green budgie with black stripes pecks at a pink object beside its beak. A headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Disco gives his pink toy a try, but a toy can't talk back.

His tricks work. "What are you doing, Disco?" she asks. "Are you dancing?" Soon she is telling him to come on over, and he's clearly happy to have her there.

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His person finally turns her attention to him, and Disco has the company he wanted.

With her attention on him, he can practice his other skill. "It's not easy being green," he says, over and over. Then he says his own name: "My name is Disco." Wild parakeets copy each other's calls, so a budgie who talks is doing just what he would do in a flock.

After that, his lines get stranger. "I'm a cat," he says, and then he meows. He announces that he wants a cheeseburger. Best of all is "I'm a doctor, not a parakeet," a bold claim from a parakeet, and one of more than 130 phrases he knows by heart.

A budgerigar parakeet with green plumage and yellow-black markings indoors in a pet environment. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
Budgies are hardwired to seek out company.

There's a dog in the house, too. When the little green bird gets going, the dog just stares at him, with the doubtful face of someone who never asked to live with a talking bird.

The talk doesn't stop at bedtime. Settled in for the night and half asleep, Disco is still practicing. "This is the top bunk," he says. Then, at last, "Good night, Disco."