In late May, 2025, our beloved pet budgie Mila passed away from a sudden illness. She was only four years old, making the sudden loss very shocking. She is survived by her fellow budgie Zafiro. I (Nikki of the Spiral system) have put together this page to commemorate her life, to try to capture her unique personality, and to show everybody what a beautiful bird she was.
Her full name was Milagro, which means "miracle" in Spanish. Echoing sentiments my wife Dalia has made, being able to forge a loving relationship with such a small creature that can't talk with us is a miracle.
We adopted Mila and Zafiro together in mid 2021. They are both rescue animals, meaning that we adopted them from their previous owner- as opposed to buying them from a store or a private bird breeder. Because of their rescue status, we didn't know exactly how old they were when we got them, but we estimated around 3-4 months. All of the photos are presented in chronological order, so that you can see their growth and changes over time, categorized by year.
This is one of the earliest photos of the babies! I don't remember how long we had had them for when this was taken, but they're definitely still adjusting to their new home. Mila is searching around, and biting on the cage door- maybe she's trying to figure out how it opens? Meanwhile, Zafiro enjoys pecking at some "seebs" (which is what the birds call their seeds).
Here we can see Zafiro chirping away, while Mila keeps her eyes shut. Possibly she's avoiding the phone camera (they "don't trust the rectangle", in their words), or maybe being napping peacefully while being serenaded by Zafiro?
Zafiro and Mila hanging out on the roof of their cage, being precious feathery children.
Mila says: "I'm gonna rotate this chain thingy around with my beak until I figure out how long it is. I'm doing research."
Zafiro says: "I'm also here, pay attention to me!"
A rare capture of Mila preening Zafiro! They used to preen each other on regular basis early on, but for some reason they ended up deciding that preening is better accomplished by jabbing the other bird in the back while they're not looking. "Creatures of chaos", as I have often said.
Mila is being visited by the dignified Sir Bellham Hatt! She doesn't seem to be paying him much respect though, since she's just taking a nap while Sir Bellham Hatt chirps his proclamations into his bellhat. Hm, I just realized something- has anybody ever seen Sir Bellum Hatt and Zafiro in the same room together?
I believe my wife described this photo as them posing like their newest album just dropped. You "birdter" listen up to them!
Mila relaxing on one foot on her favourite perch outside the cage, while Zafiro is busy preening himself nearby.
Our metamour Rose is holding out millet for the birdies! They learned to trust Dalia (my wife, their "bird mom") as safe to climb on, but they typically will only trust other people if there's millet on offer.
Mila: "I heard what you said about little baby birds who like to chew on cardboard..."
Zafiro: "Yeah me too, I also heard it, and I'm over here!"
Mila is paying close attention to Zafiro chirping up a storm of wisdom... Or perhaps she's preparing to jab at him for prattling on with nonsense. Such is the duality of bird communication.
An iconic moment of Mila putting on a big face. That means she's saying something important and you really gotta listen up! The image at the top of the page comes from this photo, but I wanted to include the original.
Mila and Zafiro going to town on a piece of millet held by our wife Missy. Gotta get that millet!!
Here we see Zafiro ducking his head back from Mila, possibly to avoid retaliation for bothering her a split second before the photo was taken. Sometimes the only way for a baby bird to communicate something is by jabbing towards them, and then recoiling in case of retribution. We may never know what exactly is being communicated.
Mila looking towards a toy tower with great interest. She loved to chew on cardboard- you can also see in the background a thin panel of cardboard covering the back of the cage, which has a slight curve to it. Originally it was a straight edge, but the birds got into the habit of whittling it away, for unknown bird reasons.
Using some powerful "birdbilities" (bird abilities), Mila has managed to swap the blurriness from the cardboard toy in the previous photo onto herself, while nibbling on it with the tip of her beak. Good job Mila!
Mila relaxing (indicated by her resting on one foot) and hanging out with Zafiro!
Mila: "'piderman."
Zafiro: "What?"
Mila: "Mine now."
Zafiro: "how come"
Big floof mode! This was taken in November, so it's likely the birds were puffing up their feathers to better retain their body heat.
Mila is studying "bird mom" (my wonderful wife Dalia, their primary caretaker), while Zafiro is distracted preening himself in such a way that it hides his head from the camera. Mila would often stand on that perch and intermittingly go "chirp!", which we believe was her trying to teach bird mom the word for "gimme some millet right now".
Mila studying the cameraperson while floofed up and with her forehead feathers raised. Whatever she says next is gonna be "imbirbtant", so pay attention! And Zafiro is here as well.
Here we can see the rare occurence of "Mila two-nose", so called because the waxy secretion on one side of her nostrils has flaked off.
Zafiro: "Hey Mila I got a great idea for a prank on bird mom. What if we just stood here, and leaned in her direction for like twenty minnutes."
Mila: "Okay. Then what?"
Zafiro: "Umm that's all I thought of. By the way what's a minute?"
Mila: "i'm sopping wet"
This photo was taken on "wet bird wednesday"! Whenever a budgie decides to take a bath, it's important to replace their water bowl with fresh, clean water, as well as to appreciate how cute and silly they look when their feathers are all wet!
Mila bravely facing the phone camera up close, while Zafiro hangs back "just in case".
Mila: "I'm working on a new technique for playing with the balls from outside of the cage. More testing is required."
It's towel time for Mila! Our babies loved to argue over who gets to chew on this green towel, which is affixed to the cage since it's used to block light for their bedtime. "It's too big to share" was a common claim excusing the argument. Also, Dalia likes this photo because it shows off Mila's "weird cowlick."
Mila being "pillow for her", so that she can more comfortably nap. Bonus Zafiro to the left side.
Mila: "I'm a diva and a princess."
Big bird mode again! And hanging out by their mineral blocks, or "minral" blocks as they call it. Minral blocks are good for baby birds, so they can grow strong and chirpy!
Mila: "Make sure to capture my 'birdtiful' side. Which is all of them."
I realize it might seem random for me to include a selfie of myself, but it's the only photo I could find where but I and Mila are visible at the same time. Maybe it seems silly, but the idea of not having any photo showing us together made me sad, and thankfully I was able to find this one.
Zafiro finally remembered how preening is supposed to work! Zafiro expressed a lot of concern and care for Mila when she wasn't doing well. He is such a sweet little budgie boy.
Finally, we have this wonderful drawing done in memory of Mila, by our good friend Mariken. I love how she captured Mila's spirit and energy. Thank you, Mariken. And thank you, the reader, for reading this page and seeing how beautiful our Mila was.