The illustration on the right shows parts of a budgie's legs and its
feet. One can see the tarsus (12) that is located
between the shank and the foot with its four toes
(13). Here in Germany budgies wear a ring which is placed around the tarsus. A budgie's toes have a typical position: Two of them face backwards and two into the other direction; this
toe arrangement can be found in many parrot species and it's called "heterodactyl".
Each toe consists of three bones; their arrangement is comparable to
human toes. On the tip of each toe there is a
claw or nail (14) or toe nail which contains a blood vessel (see
red marking in the illustration on the right). If it is necessary to
cut a budgie's toe nails, it is highly important not to touch this blood
vessel! Hurting it can lead to a severe bleeding which could kill the
bird in the worst case.
Depending on the colour variety and the shade of the plumage, the nails of budgies are coloured from a transparent bright brown to nearly black. The darker they are, the harder it is to see the blood vessels.
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