A locally bred budgerigar has flown off with a prestigious award in the hotly contested field of budgie showing at the Australian national championships.

Robyn Cosgrove, resident of the small village of Bugaldie, admits she is feeling pretty chirpy after her male budgerigar ‘Tassie’, took out the first prize in the Spangle AOSV (All Other Standard Varieties) at the Australian National Budgerigar Council’s (ANBC) Championship Show held in Launceston, Tasmania on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May. 

Robyn’s entry was one of many elite budgerigars to be boxed and sent to the apple isle to compete against 600 entries flown in from throughout Australia in what breeders consider to be their national logies.

“My bucket list is complete; I only ever wanted to get a bird to the nationals, not win it, but I am overjoyed that Tassie won his section,” Robyn said. “All the money that we've outlaid in feed, supplies and veterinary items has all been worth it. If I never win anything else, I've got it, I've made it!”

Robyn says her hobby started by accident and now she and her husband Bob currently own more than 300 birds.

“When we bought our first budgie back in 1996, I thought there was something wrong with it because it had this big feathered head,” she explained. “We took the bird back to the breeder to find it was actually the smallest headed bird, all his other birds had magnificent heads and feathers.  

"We then realised that it was a show budgie, quite different from the usual little bush budgerigar.  That's where it started; I bought a pair from the breeder and a breeding cabinet. It went from there to an addiction!”

Tassie impressed the judges to win the Australian National Budgerigar Championships in his Spangle AOSV class. IMAGE SUPPLIED.

It has taken Robyn almost thirty years of selective breeding to win at the nationals.  Preparing budgerigars for showing is serious business for those vying for a place on the state team to compete in the nationals.

Robyn says it is not just a case of the fluffiest head, the brightest colours and the best markings, a prize-winning budgie cannot be a champion unless it presents properly.  

Showy

“You almost have to train them to perch correctly in their show box,” she says. “It has to stand nicely and present as a showy bird. The judge looks to make sure it has all its tail and wing feathers and all its toenails. If it has lost a toenail, it is disqualified, the competition rules are tough.

“When I am preparing for competition, I put my show birds in their presentation boxes for half an hour every third day to start with so that I can see the ones that will not sit up on the perch.

"I've had a couple that really don't like the box and they sit on the floor; they will never be show birds but used for breeding.

"As it gets closer to the judging date, I put the birds into a different box for an hour a day; sometimes I spend three or four hours a day doing this. Many people think you pluck them out of the aviary, put them in a box and that's it!”

The ANBC says trends in what constitutes a prize-winning bird have changed over the years from birds that more closely resembled the wild budgie of the thirties to a bird with a dramatic feathered crown in 2023.

Tassie is certainly no ordinary Australian bush budgerigar; he is a popular mutation of the Spangle variety known for their unique eye-catching patterns. They are distinguishable by a clear yellow or white tail.

The specific Spangle variants are characterized by retaining full black spots, unbroken violet or grey cheek patches, and strong, uniform body colour. Initially, fanciers had used the term ‘spangley’ to describe the birds.

Kathy Manton, judge and publicity officer for the Budgerigar Society of NSW says that judges look for overall outline, condition and deportment, including size, which accounts for 60 points out of 100.

“The remaining 40 points, in the case of a Spangle, are shared between colour and markings,” Ms Manton said.  “Robyn’s bird is a combination bird, that is, it’s a Spangle and an Opaline, a combination of two varieties.

Standard

“We judge to a written ‘standard’ and all judges are required to learn and understand it and the features of all the budgerigar varieties. The top three birds selected in each variety from each State and Zone, are judged a week later at the National show.

“Robyn’s bird showed well. Opaline light green, a big, long strong bird with a lovely top end and a nice face with good directional feather and mask.

“How exciting this win is for Robyn and when her bird looked his very best on the day when it really mattered!”

Bob and Robyn Cosgrove are delighted with their winning trophy. 

Following the win at the nationals, Robyn was offered $3,000 for Tassie, which she turned down.

“I knocked back the money for him because selling him was never my aim,” she added. “My satisfaction will be seeing his progeny on the show bench.  I get more of a kick out of that than getting money for them; it's a passion.

Tassie went on to win another championship trophy in his class in June at the New England Budgerigar Club Show. 

"I just wanted to give him one last normal showing and also a lot of people like to see why the birds won at the Nationals.

"Craig Buckingham, one of the judges in Tasmania, told me that Tassie had lost weight but he was still a beautiful bird. There were 150 competing in Tamworth and he still got champion young bird.

“Now Tassie has gone into a happy retirement and I am happy that he is already breeding.  He has sisters, brothers, cousins, nieces and nephews, so his progeny lines are established for the future.  He is such a beautiful bird; I think I am very lucky.”