Otterbein Budgies

This Wednesday come to the Library and buy a budgie feather ornament to help support the Cape Parrot Project! We will be selling Cape Parrot Project Merchandise as well!

Budgies Are Thankful For:

It's officially September, the temperatures are starting to cool, and the Science Center halls are full of students... There's no denying that we are all back to school! Check out the budgies' school supplies the next time you're near the aviary! 📚📝

Guess who's back in the aviary just in time to wish you luck for finals week?

Our male budgies are back!

After weeks of living in the lab, the males are back on view in the Science Center! They participated in weekly recording sessions, and were great research buddies! Now they are back home and relaxing after their hard work.

You may have noticed the budgie curtain is staying closed all day now. This is because our female budgies have moved in! They have spent most of their lives living behind the scenes in the lab, and aren't used to the hustle and bustle of the Science Center hallway. We are keeping the curtain closed so hopefully they feel more safe in their new home. Us lab members are watching their behavior and will open the curtain for you to see them when the girls are ready!

In the meantime, the male budgies are in the lab full time now. Once a week, they are put in these sound chambers for a half hour so that their calls are recorded. The foam in the chambers help block outside noise. Their calls can then be analyzed by computer software!

The Science Center Atrium is so quiet! Where did the budgies go?

The male budgies you know and love are currently housed in Dr. Young's research lab! They will stay there for the rest of the semester while their calls are recorded for student research.

In the meantime, Facilities Services will be doing some work on the aviary!

Our female budgies will be out to meet you in the aviary soon!

Check out these budgie feather ornaments for sale, tonight in the library! They make fantastic presents at only $5 each

Have a happy extended weekend from the Budgies! Hope you get the chance to relax, have fun, and get all your feathers back in place!

The Budgies at Otterbein University are in full support of the March for Science and the March for Climate Change. We are greatly concerned about recent changes in legislation and budget proposals that adversely affect the EPA and the ability for our governmental scientists to effectively monitor and regulate actions contributing to climate change.

The budgies say stop by and see the senior biology majors presenting at senior symposium today! Also good luck to lab manager Kelly Jackson who is presenting her research on pandas at 9:25!

We all have a reason to !! What's yours?

With everything that is going on, we want to know the reason why you resist. Look for the brown pieces of paper on the budgie lab door and the aviary door or comment your reason below. We know why our lab members and our birds resist and now we look forward to hearing from you!!

Did someone say Valentine's Day? Our budgies sure are ready to spread the love. Stop by the science center to see our flock interacting with our new enrichment!!!

All of us budgies wanted to say welcome back to school! Also a very special happy birthday to Kelly Jackson, one of our lab managers that takes such good care of us! We love you 😍😘 we hope it's a good one!!

If you have been around the science center lately, you may have noticed that we have a new addition in our aviary. We were so lucky to be able to work with Dr. Jeff Lehman to acquire a fig tree for our aviary!! A big thank you to Dr. Lehman from all the budgies, and we hope you stop by soon to see a budgie in a fig tree.

The students may be gone for winter break, but winter has arrived. We love that we get to be warm and have snowflakes unlike outside. Have a safe winter from all of us budgies.

Thanksgiving is a time when we all get together and say what we are thankful for. Stop by and visit us, your favorite resident budgies, and our new friends, a rafter of hand turkeys. Our new turkey friends will tell you about what we and our caretakers are thankful for this season!

With the election coming up, we are sad that we can't vote. Luckily you can. Unlike us, you have a voice and can make a difference. Next Tuesday, or before if you are an absentee voter, take the time to go and vote. Be our voice, because we can't be. In the mean time, stop by the aviary and see our opinions, as those that take care of us have is a chance to 'vote.'

Birds of a feather flock to Otterbein. This is a saying that we have seen at Otterbein before and it could not be more true. These past few days, Otterbein University hosted "Finding Your Voice", inspirational stories from women who protect wildlife and wild places. This was a summit held here at Otterbein that hosted many women that are leaders in the field of conservation and that are making a real impact, that we all, including the budgies, can stand behind.

One of the women who spoke, Susie Louis was kind enough to stop in and say hi to our little resident birds at Otterbein, and they just felt as though her passion should be shared. Susie set the ground work for an organization named Conservation Fusion, that is a non-profit organization devoted to educating children in countries with endangered wildlife. The country of focus is Madagascar, and the story of what has happened in Lavavolo is a true inspiration to all. One woman, Susie, had a dream of saving Madagascar, and through small goals and realistic promises, she was able to make a difference. After many years of hard work, the Dream School, something so desperately needed was created. It all started with one person, and one dream, and now it has turned into something so much greater.

Susie is a true inspiration to not only women of science, or those in the conservation or education field, but she is an inspiration to all. Throughout the summit, she gave out bits of knowledge to help become more successful and to really encourage people to not give up on their dreams.

If you are interested in hearing more about the work done in Madagascar or that is done by conservation fusion, you can like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter ().

Take a break from studying and fly on over to the aviary before you leave for Fall Break and check out the awesome new enrichment. The Otterbein budgies are showing their support for breast cancer awareness month by proudly displaying their pink ribbons.

The Otterbein Budgies are getting ready for the new school year with some new enrichment. Stop by the aviary next time you are in the Science Center to hear all the latest budgie gossip from our resident budgies!!!

Congratulations to the lab seniors on graduating today!

Budgie fact of the day: budgies are tetrachromats, which means they have 4 types of cone cells in their eyes. Humans only have 3. The 4th type of cone cell allows budgies to see into the UV spectrum!

The Young Lab seniors and Dr. Young after a successful Biology Senior Symposium! It was a great day, and everybody did a great job with their talks!

Tomorrow the fantastic five Young Lab seniors are presenting at Biology Senior Symposium in Roush 114! Here is a list of their talk times:

Mollie Kemp, budgie cognition: 8am
Matt Vieth, elephant f***l scoring: 10:50am
Meaghan Graver, palm oil conservation education: 11:35am
Sam Perry, coyote enrichment: 1:40pm
Rachel Dalton, wildlife health: 2:10pm

Congrats seniors! We are proud of you!

Congrats to lab senior Mollie Kemp, who passed her distinction thesis defense yesterday! Mollie worked with our female budgies to study cognition and problem solving. She will be working as a seasonal zoo keeper at the Columbus Zoo in the Australia region following graduation, and is interested in the applications of research for animal welfare and conservation.