On 10/03/2005 the animal activist Anette who lives close to my hometown was looking for help in an internet forum. She has visited a pet shop in the Netherlands - Anette lives close to the Dutch border - because she wanted to by some toys for her Parrots there. Therefore on 09/30/2005 she has been in that shop and she has seen a budgie who was sitting on the bottom of the cage looking ill. That was too much for Anette, so she told the staff about the sick bird. She was told that the bird was suffering from an illness that's called the French Molt. This disease makes budgies become flightless when they are still very young. Anette couldn't see herself whether the poor budgie was missing its wing feathers or not because there ware at least 20 other budgies inside the cage. It was hard to see anything, and therefore she decided to buy the sick budgie and try to find someone who knows more about the illnesses of this bird species. And that's why she posted in the above mentioned forum.

At home she had a closer look at the bird and she found out that the budgie was suffering from heavy bowlegs due to rachitis (see photo on the right). The bird's cloaca was covered with droppings that stuck to the skin and the feathers. Also the budgie was infected with mites. Anette thought it would be a good idea to take the budgie to an avian vet. The doctor said that the bird will most probably will never be able to use its legs in a normal way but in a home for handicapped birds it could lead a happy life. After talking to the expert Anette decided to find such a home for the bird and we got in touch. On 10/09/2005 two bird lovers from Cologne drove to Anette's place to bring the budgie to my home. I am glad about their help because I don't have a car and I wouldn't have been able to get the bird without them. When Sara arrived here she was about nine months old.

After I took her out of the transportation cage she moved into a sick budgie's cage which contained cork platforms and no normal twigs. Due to her heavy bowlegs Sara is not able to stand on perches and twigs, she needs platforms to rest on and she immediately liked the ones made of cork oak bark. The bottom of the cage was cushioned to prevent injuries in case Sara would fall off her platforms. What Sara liked most was the sunlight coming into her cage through the large window. When the sun was shining Sara perched in the light and immediately began to sing.

A few days after she arrived at my place the vet found out that lovely Sara didn't carry any infectious disease in her body. Therefore she was allowed to move into my bird room after the quarantine. It was clear that Sara would be able to lead a good life even though she is disabled due to her bowlegs. In my bird room she immediately felt at home and she trained her wings. Flying works pretty well, only landing causes her some trouble in case she doesn't find an even place. Her feet are twisted too much to stand on a twig or typical budgie perch. Sara prefers to land on the floor or on the window sill for example.

In November 2005 Sara who is quite timid flirted with the friendly Orpheus. The birds fell in love with each other and soon became a couple until he regrettably died in Summer 2006. He was unable to fly due to a broken wing. So Sara always returned to him when he was awaiting her sitting somewhere on the ground. With all the other birds Sara gets along well, she's a friendly and calm bird. Most female budgies are a bit touchy but she isn't at all. Every time one of the other birds starts to quarrel she flies away to a safer place. Maybe she knows that she is not that strong due to her handicap.

What impresses me most is that the charming blue spangle - that's the name of her colour mutation - is so intelligent. Thanks to her powers of comprehension I was able to teach her something helpful: Sara has to drink some medicine each day to prevent a worsening of her bowlegs. I put this medicine in a spoon and she learned to drink it whenever I serve it to her. It only took her two days to learn drinking from the spoon and therefore I don't have to grab her with my hand each time I have to give her the medicine. She really is an amazing bird and I'm glad to have her here!