On 10/04/1997, Wega hatched from her egg. She is a cobalt Greywing and a Yellowface just with a slight touch of drawings on her wings and head. One could recognize her throat spots only from a very short distance. She was a shy, reserved bird and in the past, it took her a long while to make herself heard in the flock. But then she became generally accepted by her fellow budgies. In fact, Wega was the boss when I freshly filled up the food dish with Orchard Grass seeds.

From December '99 on, Wega was the sweetheart of the gorgeous Kallisto. The couple used to smooch the whole day and I could often watch them tickling each other's neck. Their relationship was full of love and affection since the day Kallisto fell in love with another hen in my flock. In the beginning of December '01, he left Wega for being together with Sirius. Wega didn't give up that fast and tried to get him back because she loved him that much. Unfortunately not only Wega lost her beloved mate forever... On the 31st of December '01, Kallisto died from grief after losing his new love Sirius six days before. From that day on, Wega perches separately from the other birds of my flock and looks kind of sad. So I am looking for a new mate for her who can make her happy again.

What's really sad about Wega is that she is not very lucky concerning her health. On 02/04/1998, I saw her in a pet shop and couldn't leave her there because it seemed as if one of the other budgies in the cage plucked her feathers. Most parts of Wega's head were bald and there were also some parts of her belly with no feathers on. The truth about all that turned out a little later when she was living in my bird room without recovering in any way. She was seriously ill and I was mistaking when I was thinking that she was a victim of a feather plucker. The poor bird suffered from a chronic kidney infection that had led to a bad eczema and the partial loss of the feathers. After a few months in my bird room and a lot of care (medicaments and naturopathy), Wega got back a healthy plumage and recovered very well.

In June 2001, her fate turned against her again. Wega suffered a sudden and durable paralysis of her right foot caused by an apoplectic stroke. Also her right wing is dropped since the stroke hit her. From that day on, she was no more able to move the toes. But fortunately she got along well with her handicap because she was a strong and brave budgie lady. A few months later, in December 2001, the - in general - friendly hen Rana had a real bad day. Without any warning she attacked Wega and hurt her with several beak strokes. The poor victim lost so much of her blood that she nearly died. I am very glad that she was still here with me for a while after being hurt that serious. One of her wounds on her dropped right wing was so deep that the wing hung down even more from that day on. Since spring 2002, Wega was completely incapable of flight.

Due to her former diseases, the molt in autumn was too much for her even though I tried everything to help her with food supplements. On 10/31/2004, Wega died in peace in the bird room among all her friends.

Meaning of the name
The main star in the constellation "Lyra" is called Wega. From Europe one can see it standing high in the sky in summer. This star that is about 26 light-years away from Earth plays an important role in Carl Sagan's great novel (and film) "Contact".