Figuring Out Budgie Chatter

[Lady Jane]

Budgie Sounds – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

Budgies (parakeets) chatter a lot, as budgie owners will have noticed. What does all that chatter mean? Hopefully, it means for the most part that your budgies are content and carrying on some flock talk. Here are some common budgie sounds and what they might mean.

“I’m Mad!”
Along with chatter, budgies squabble about territory, mates, nest boxes and sharing their food or water. A budgie that is a little angry or territorial might make a sound that is kind of like tssssk. Sometimes it will show up in the middle of otherwise happy chatter. Maybe your budgies are just recalling an angry moment? If it is accompanied by an open beak, raised wings or biting at another budgie’s feet, then the budgie is telling off another budgie. Luckily, these squabbles are generally short-lived, and someone usually backs down. There is likely to be more of this in the spring and fall when the natural daylight signals a rise in hormone levels for our budgie pals.

Singing
A budgie in a really good mood might sing. He emits high-pitched garbled but melodic singing with high and low notes. This differs from plain, monosyllabic and monotone chatter.

Beak Grinding
A really content budgie that feels safe might grind his beak as he goes to sleep. It sounds like what it is, a slightly disturbing sound that might make it harder for you to get to sleep when it is happening!

Chirps
Sometimes a budgie will make a single note, a chirp. Several budgies might synchronize and chirp together. Did I say I’d let you know what vocalizations mean? I can’t peg this one, but you should know that it happens. It gives a group of budgies something to do, sing together. And it’s a happy sound for both you and your budgies.

Clicks
Occasionally, along with chatter and chirps, budgies will make clicking sounds. This is another happy sound.

Chattering
Once more, this is the prevalent budgie noise. It’s a constant chatter, interspersed with chirps and clicks, and if you have several budgies they most likely will all be doing it. They’ll throw in a few tssks as they get in each other’s way, but, overall, this is happy noise.

Contact Call
If your budgie misses you or hears another budgie within earshot, he might let loose a contact call, a long, drawn out, insistent single call. It kind of sounds like a person whistling. Tweeeeeet! It’s one call. If you hear this and answer consistently with a contact call of your own, it will reassure your budgie.

Trills
Sometimes budgies trill; that is, emit a long drawn out chip, with a couple notes thrown in. It’s not as complex as a song, but it is more melodic than plain chatter.

 

[expressmailtome]

Thank you for sharing this.

 

[Mariah Hughes]

Budgie Sounds – Pet Birds by Lafeber Co.

Budgies (parakeets) chatter a lot, as budgie owners will have noticed. What does all that chatter mean? Hopefully, it means for the most part that your budgies are content and carrying on some flock talk. Here are some common budgie sounds and what they might mean.

“I’m Mad!”
Along with chatter, budgies squabble about territory, mates, nest boxes and sharing their food or water. A budgie that is a little angry or territorial might make a sound that is kind of like tssssk. Sometimes it will show up in the middle of otherwise happy chatter. Maybe your budgies are just recalling an angry moment? If it is accompanied by an open beak, raised wings or biting at another budgie’s feet, then the budgie is telling off another budgie. Luckily, these squabbles are generally short-lived, and someone usually backs down. There is likely to be more of this in the spring and fall when the natural daylight signals a rise in hormone levels for our budgie pals.

Singing
A budgie in a really good mood might sing. He emits high-pitched garbled but melodic singing with high and low notes. This differs from plain, monosyllabic and monotone chatter.

Beak Grinding
A really content budgie that feels safe might grind his beak as he goes to sleep. It sounds like what it is, a slightly disturbing sound that might make it harder for you to get to sleep when it is happening!

Chirps
Sometimes a budgie will make a single note, a chirp. Several budgies might synchronize and chirp together. Did I say I’d let you know what vocalizations mean? I can’t peg this one, but you should know that it happens. It gives a group of budgies something to do, sing together. And it’s a happy sound for both you and your budgies.

Clicks
Occasionally, along with chatter and chirps, budgies will make clicking sounds. This is another happy sound.

Chattering
Once more, this is the prevalent budgie noise. It’s a constant chatter, interspersed with chirps and clicks, and if you have several budgies they most likely will all be doing it. They’ll throw in a few tssks as they get in each other’s way, but, overall, this is happy noise.

Contact Call
If your budgie misses you or hears another budgie within earshot, he might let loose a contact call, a long, drawn out, insistent single call. It kind of sounds like a person whistling. Tweeeeeet! It’s one call. If you hear this and answer consistently with a contact call of your own, it will reassure your budgie.

Trills
Sometimes budgies trill; that is, emit a long drawn out chip, with a couple notes thrown in. It’s not as complex as a song, but it is more melodic than plain chatter.

It's funny that you shared this, I was just about to post about an ongoing project / experiment I have going on right now in which I am trying to decipher budgie language on a deep level. I've been working on it for a few months and I will totally share my findings when they are ready

 

[Lady Jane]

I think us humans sometimes do not take the time to really listen to the language of our birds. It can and most likely does sound like background bird chatter when in fact their sounds have meaning to them. I look forward to reading more about your project.

 

[Fergus Mom]

I wonder why they didn't list 'squawking'! LOL, mine squawk many times if I am laying down for a nap. I think they want to make sure I'm still breathing. Or maybe they are testing out if they can wake me up! I love going to sleep with the sound of happy budgie chattering, and chirping.

 

[Gribouille]

in fact their sounds have meaning to them

Of course they have. I even saw a documentary about a research project where they found that parents were addressing each of their baby birds with a different sound, which proved that even small "simple" birds (don't remember what species they were, just that they were small song birds) have a name from birth just as we do.
I love when science proves that kind of things

 

[Gribouille]

I think they want to make sure I'm still breathing.

Just got a visual of your birds hoping on your chest to make sure you are breathing!!!

 

[Lady Jane]

My two make so many different sounds its hard to plug into the above descriptions. Every once in a while they both make beautiful Trill and it is mixed in with musical notes that are very short. Most of what I hear is what is called Chattering (as above) Of course I am no expert in deciphering their sounds.

 

[Gribouille]

My two make so many different sounds its hard to plug into the above descriptions. Every once in a while they both make beautiful Trill and it is mixed in with musical notes that are very short. Most of what I hear is what is called Chattering (as above) Of course I am no expert in deciphering their sounds.

Do you notice differences between males and females? I had 2 boys before and I could not distinguish their voices but now that I have a boy and a girl it is very easy. My boy sings all the time and makes relatively strong noises, while the female is more discreet, talks less and not as high, but when she does she doesn't have the same melodious voice either. Wonder if that will change when she is adult..

 

[Lady Jane]

Female Mickey is definitely louder than Murphy. She is also the dominant one of the two. He bows down to her, well sort of.

 

[Fergus Mom]

I 'think' I can tell the difference with my male and female... and I can definitely tell if Fergus is after something that Fiona doesn't want him to have (just name anything, right?) Sort of sounds like a running "peeeee peee peeeeep peeee peeee" really high pitched!

 

[Budgiebonkers]

I can tell the difference between my budgies I have 2 inside my old man has a double chirp to him where as the other one doesnt i dont think theres a budgie sound ive never heard my birds do lol

 

[Lady Jane]

Interesting about a male budgie.
Most male budgies will chirp and sing throughout the day. This constant chirping almost sounds like chattering and is used to impress the female. The more vocal the male tends to be the more impressed the female budgie becomes. For this reason, many males will develop extensive vocabularies and be much louder and vocal whenever a female budgie is near. This attention-getting behavior is probably why many male budgies develop larger vocabularies and talk better than female budgies.

If several budgies are kept together, they will create an endless chorus of chirps and squawks. Loud music or loud television will trigger the birds to compete to be heard thus contributing even more to their chatter. In the wild, a loud budgie is an effective communicator as it needs its flock members to hear him—especially when the bird is in the air and there are no flat surfaces whereby the sound can bounce.

 

[Gribouille]

Interesting about a male budgie.
Most male budgies will chirp and sing throughout the day. This constant chirping almost sounds like chattering and is used to impress the female. The more vocal the male tends to be the more impressed the female budgie becomes. For this reason, many males will develop extensive vocabularies and be much louder and vocal whenever a female budgie is near. This attention-getting behavior is probably why many male budgies develop larger vocabularies and talk better than female budgies.

If several budgies are kept together, they will create an endless chorus of chirps and squawks. Loud music or loud television will trigger the birds to compete to be heard thus contributing even more to their chatter. In the wild, a loud budgie is an effective communicator as it needs its flock members to hear him—especially when the bird is in the air and there are no flat surfaces whereby the sound can bounce.

Yep.. My 2 males were awfully loud sometimes, even with no female around. I DID have to use ear protection more than once... And watching TV or having a conversation with friends has been a trial

Now I have one male and one female, the male chats nicely, it is soft and completely OK .
On occasions he can be a little too loud but after a while I tell him to stop and he does. The female is only 6 months old, maybe he will get louder toward the Summer if he finds out she could be a nice mate..

 

[Pipper]

I think there is too much anthropomorphizing of the sounds on that list and by myself personally too for that matter based on whether the human hearing them likes the way they sound.

For example the 'tssssk' sound that they say means 'I'm mad' is more often an attention getting sound or a sound that trying to communicate danger or perhaps jealousy to another budgie they are bonded too. I'd don't think it can be said to mean 'I'm mad' every time because most times they aren't attacking other creatures when they say that. I think 'Danger!' might be accurate. For example, if I am feeding my girl budgie spray millet at first it usually results in the 'tssk' (I'm Mad / Danger) sound one or more times from my male budgie she is bonded with. Not so coincidentally I rarely can get the male budgie that cries danger all the time to come perch on my finger to eat spray millet while I can the female budgie quite easily as she maybe is thinking 'I want good nutrition for my potential babies' and the male thinks 'I want to give the nutrition to my female mate and I want her to get her nutrition from me' or is he really only thinking 'Danger!'. I got them as a 9 month old untame bonded pair that had already raised one nest by the previous owner. If I keep on feeding my female budgie then often he will start flitting and hopping about sometimes pausing to go into this crazy head bobbing movement all while singing a whole repertoire of melodious notes that sound somewhat like those old tones when dialing on a dial-tone phone of long ago. I'm pretty sure all that is a mating dance and mating calls from the male when he does all that. He's probably doing that to make sure I don't 'wooo' the female budgie away from him. He also does it pretty much all day long as mating season approaches regardless of whether I'm in the room or not. There are no other male or female budgies around. I don't know how his voice holds out!

My male and females makes that general familiar chirping sound too and that is like they said probably just a flock contact call. I guess you could call it a worry call. Some budgies kept by themselves will do that incessantly and while it is pretty chirp, I think that is a sign that budgie deserves a budgie friend or much more attention from the pet care giver.

I'm guessing though. Keeping a pet parrot type bird is a guess for a pet care giver as to their true emotional and physical state as their beaks always look like they are smiling and the they are so beautiful. That is why I am trying to find a budgie book by a professional biologist that would have done a lot of research in the wild about budgies to know for more certain. I know the obvious things but I'd like to learn the more nuanced bird behaviours and bird sounds. There is a book by (Barron's Pet Handbooks) that I am considering but I'm not sure if budgie expert biologists had any role in writing it.

 

[Fergus Mom]

I rarely can get the male budgie that cries danger all the time to come perch on my finger to eat spray millet while I can the female budgie quite easily as she maybe is thinking 'I want good nutrition for my potential babies' and the male thinks 'I want to give the nutrition to my female mate and I want her to get her nutrition from me' or is he really only thinking 'Danger!'.

@Pipper - you sound like you have really done your homework via the info above!
I love the interpretation of them eating millet and their thoughts! I'm thinking of my Fergus and Fiona's thoughts on this... maybe something like;

Fiona: "I'm gonna get down to that hand FIRST"...
Fergus: "Where did Fiona go?"
Fiona: "Yummm, thanks Mommy"
Fergus: "Oh hell, she's down there getting treats, how did I miss that with my nose always stuck in her bidness?"

LOL! Then after they are perched on my finger...
Fiona: "Fergus, you better not touch MY clump."
Fergus: "Dang, I think I'll get closer to my girlfriend, maybe if she sees me eating HER clump of millet she will like me better."
Mommy: "Better watch it Ferg, you KNOW she will get you before you can say boo!"
Fiona: "Shriiiiieeeekkkk Fergus, you better GET AWAY from my millet clump this is your final warning!!!"

 

[Gribouille]

I'm sorry to say so, but it sounds like Fergus is a little dumb.. or self-centered maybe...

 

[taxidermynerd]

I find that Chirp has his own little noises, and by now (had him for almost 3 years) I know what he means.

He has this flock call, it's like a very loud "BEEP BEEP", although sometimes it's just one BEEP and ever so rarely it might be three! Usually he'll do this if I leave the room and he hasn't seen me in a while, just wanting to make sure I'm okay I guess.

He has his angry yell, which is "bep bep bep BEP BEP BEP BEP", this is his "I have things to say" yell. Usually yelling at the dog or my dad, lol.

Then there's the generic chatter, which is a hodge-podge of budgie sounds, with occasional yelling. He also has a sweeter version for when he gives kissies to me, toys, a perch, etc.

He also has a "back off" yell, it's this very loud harsh sound that I can't really describe. He only does this when he feels threatened in a small space (like me taking him in or out of his carrier).

Then there's the singular noises- he has this little "beeep?" that he uses when he's curious about something. He also learned the whistle we use to call the dog into the house.

And of course there's yelling! You can't forget yelling!

 

[Lady Jane]

My only male EB likes to trill with his voice. Never said a human word like previous male EB. Mickey, the female will do the whistling of the two. Sort of backwards to what has been said and written by others about the family of parrots.

I never call my birds "pets". Because they retain their wildness from previous generations I prefer the word companion.

 

[taxidermynerd]

If several budgies are kept together, they will create an endless chorus of chirps and squawks.

I've had the joy of experiencing this on a grand scale- my local zoo has an aviary with over a hundred budgies, provided with tons of space and lots of things to do. The noise is deafening, but in a good way, lol. It makes me so happy every time I go there. Sometimes the ekkies or kookaburras or cockatoos (all separate enclosures but very nearby) join in, and all the budgies stop for a second to listen before they resume yelling. It's a lovely place!