Unloved, indifferently treated and pushed away, then affectionately adopted but unfortunately not really at home - that was the depressing story of this pretty male budgie in few words. It is really tragic to see which sad times so many budgies have to go through! But for Orpheus things have finally changed and he found his luck.

In former times, the bird lived together with another budgie in the house of a man in Hamburg. Both birds - they were no real pair and just sharing the same cage - once were an unwanted gift given to the man by his ex-girlfriend. She gave the birds to him without thinking about what she was doing. He didn't like the animals and he also didn't even know which kind of bird species they belong to. And the worst thing about all this is that he wasn't concerned about it at all. That's the story he told when he met the bird lover and pet shop owner named Lanzelot who was shocked and wanted to get the poor birds out of their cold-hearted owner's hands. He said: "bring them here." - and guess what - the former owner was more than glad about this suggestion.

A few days later, the two budgies moved into Lanzelot's aviary which was the home of a little flock of budgies. After their arrival in the aviary, the blue female budgie who used to shared her life with the yellow-green male, went separate ways and mated with another male. The yellow-green one stayed single.

One morning, Lanzelot found the poor budgie sitting on the floor. He wasn't able to fly anymore. It is uncertain until today what exactly happened that night and made the budgie a disabled bird. From this day on, the bird couldn't join the rest of the flock and remained attached to the ground. And what was even worse: He didn't find "Mrs. Right" in the flock, so he just was on his own all of the time even though there were other birds around him. That's why Lanzelot decided to give the handsome budgie to a new home where he would meet other disabled birds - and maybe finally find love there. My friend Natalie who is an animal welfare activist heard of the bird and tried to find a new home for him. I admire her for her efforts and achievements because she really helps if birds are in need!

Actually it wasn't planned that Orpheus, that's how I named this lovely budgie, should move into my bird room. But when Natalie came to my place on 11/08/03, there was not only Helene in her transportation box. As I promised before, I wanted to adopt her. But when I saw the amazingly beautiful Orpheus perched next to her staring around with his dark eyes awaiting his uncertain future, I couldn't stand the thought of letting him go. Right before Natalie came to visit me she wanted to bring Orpheus to a man who had promised to adopt the bird. But when Natalie arrived there he had changed his mind and sent her away together with the bird. This sad story touched my deepest soul, so I let Orpheus move into my bird room together with Helene. As Natalie and I could see, Orpheus had great fun when he became a member of my little flock. And by the way: The colour mutation of cute Orpheus is called Greywing and Spangle in green.

And just one week later it turned out to be the right decision. Orpheus fell in love with Helene and from that day on they were a happy couple until the day Helene died. Regrettably, her little soul had to leave much too early. A few days after she passed away, Orpheus fell in love with Vivian who became his new wife. Due to her age - Vivian was a budgie-granny - she was quite fragile and calm. Therefore Orpheus took himself a second wife: young and lively lady Sara (see photo). Sometimes she flew away from him and hovered through the bird room. But she always came back to him when he screamed while waiting for her on the ground. Regrettably he wasn't able to fly until the day he died.

Finally Vivian's last day had come but there was still Sara whom Orpheus loved so much. They became a real dreamteam and had another wonderful springtime at each other's side. In fact it was Orpheus' last springtime because in the evening of 06/23/2006 suddenly his heart stopped beating. When he was nine years old he passed away without any warning and his soul left this world within just a few seconds. Not only Sara was very sad after losing him. My heart is also broken and I am so sad that I will never hear this very talented singer again.

Meaning of the name
On the one hand I wanted to name the budgie after an astronomical object like I already did before with so many other birds. But I also wanted to select a name suitable for his character. So, I guess there is no better name than Orpheus because he is a very talented feathered singer. There is a minor planet of the same name in our solar system and Orpheus also was a wonderful singer and poet in the Greek mythology. He was the son of the Apollo and muse.