Story Bird: Cirrus
I had always been warned that open bands were dangerous. I was also led to believe that closed bands were safe. I now know that is not the case, and it took losing a beautiful little pale aqua blue and yellow budgie named Cirrus to drive that fact home to me.Cirrus, along with his clutchmates, was hatched in my aviary in 1996. He was duly banded at an age early enough to be able to accept a "safe" closed band. He was one of those hatchlings that was so unusual and so special that he remained as a family pet. Since he grew up right next to a flight of canaries, he sang canary song as well as budgie warble. A very special budgie was our Cirrus.
Cirrus gave us 10 years of joy and happiness, but the time came that he had to answer for that band on his leg. Sometime during the night, he managed to get it hooked over one of the wire loops that held his sliding door in place. He fluttered and fought, but was unable to free himself and equally unable to raise help in the middle of the night. I found him there the next morning, hanging upside down from the relentless band on his leg.
Please let our loss, and Cirrus's, alert you to the danger of breeder bands so that you and your precious bird won't have to suffer the same fate as befell us here at our house. If you purchase a bird of any kind who is wearing a band, please have a veterinarian clip it off for you. Save it in case you should need the info on it, but don't allow the bird to continue to wear it. If Cirrus can be a warning that saves even one bird from his own unfortunate fate, his loss won't seem quite as cruel to us.
