I’m very sad to say that our two budgies, Pear and Feifei, both left us this week, within a few days of each other.

Pear had gotten progressively weaker over a few days, and we didn’t know what was going on or realize how serious it was. Then a few days ago the poor little guy fell to the floor of his cage and could barely move. Alana held him gently in her hand and stroked him, but he didn’t last more than another hour or so. (I hope Alana’s gesture was comforting to him in his final moments.)

Then this morning the same thing happened to Feifei, only in fast-forward. She succumbed much faster (she was rather old for a budgie).

We buried both birds in the garden inside of our complex.

From Googling, I can only guess that the birds got some kind of disease. Apparently paralysis in this kind of bird is common. In the US it might have been possible to get treatment from an avian veterinarian, but I doubt that Shanghai has such services.

Frost, our cockatiel (left), seems to be doing just fine. We won’t get any new birds for a while, and clean the cage thoroughly. Hopefully that will get rid of any germs. In the meantime, Alana can train Frost a lot better. (Lonely birds are easier to train.)