Exceptional bird

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33442, 25 January 1974, Page 5

Exceptional bird

LV.Z. Press Association)

WELLINGTON, Jan. 24. A Wellington woman, Mrs Marie Benson, believes she has one of the oldest living budgerigars in the world.

She knows he is at least 19 years old, and possibly 20. According to the “Guinness Book of Records,” the average life span of a budgie is six to eight years. It records “Bluey,” owned by Mrs Dorothy Riddell, of Dindern, near Derby, in England as being the oldest known bird. It was 21. The ornithologist at the Dominion Museum, Mr F. C. Kinskey, said today that although 19 would be very old, it was quite possible for a bird living in captivity to reach this age. But it would not do so in the wild, he said.

Mrs Benson’s pet is a green and yellow budgie called Peter.

He is rather spoilt—his three storey cage has wall to wall carpet, and in the winter he gets a hot waterbottle. Peter has the run of Mrs Benson’s bed sitting room and makes the most of it. He loves mirrors and shiny things and spends the day flying about. When he wants a bath he goes to the kitchen sink.