Birds come in a variety of colours, all the colours of the rainbow. You may be used to some birds looking a certain way so a budgie with a white cere may be something unfamiliar to you.
This article is a look into why your budgie has a white cere.
Table of Contents
Budgie cere white:
The appearance of your bird can tell you a lot about the health and general well-being of a bird.
Not only this, the cere can tell you a lot about the bird as well. The cere of your bird can tell you about the birds, age and health
This is why your bird cere may be white:
It’s a young female bird:
The appearance of your bird’s cere can help when trying to figure out the gender or the age of your budgie.
When female budgies are young they will have a cere that is very light blue to a point of being white, this may be what is happening with your bird.
The cere may also be a light blue color with a little white coloring around the bird’s nares (the bird’s nostrils)
What to do:
This phenomenon is very normal and is not something that you should be worried about. As the bird ages its cere should turn a darker light blue color, still light blue but not as light blue as before.
A female bird that is coming out of season:
Female budgies usually have a cere that is light blue or white.
However, this will change when the bird is ready to breed, her cere will turn brown during this time. This happens when the bird reaches adulthood.
When the bird is not mating, and is taking a break from mating, then the cere will turn back to a light blue or a white colour.
This break from mating usually happens around the molting time when she is coming out of condition (coming out of condition means she is coming out of her breeding phase)
Because molting is an uncomfortable process your bird will not want to breed, if she isn’t breeding her cere will turn white or light blue
What to do:
Your bird’s cere will go back to being brown once the bird is ready to breed again. The time that this takes may differ from bird to bird
This change in cere color is nothing to worry about as long as the bird isn’t distressed during this time. That is, not more distressed than it would usually be when molting.
Males with less testosterone:
Male budgies have quite high levels of testosterone in their bodies, this is what keeps their ceres a deeper blue color.
Female budgies have light blue ceres because they have lower levels of testosterone in their bodies.
If a male budgie starts to produce less testosterone then its cere will turn either pale or will turn white.
Stress can cause a male budgies body to produce less testosterone and this will cause its cere to turn lighter like the females, pale or even white
What to do:
This is quite concerning and is not normal for male budgies.
You may want to take a closer look at your male budgies living conditions and general health to see if anything is stressing the bird and causing this
Taking your bird to the vet to be examined and diagnosed is also recommended.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Budgie Cere Turning Black, Why Is My Budgie’s Beak Red?, Can Budgies Bruise Their Beaks?, Can Birds Get Beak Burn?, Can Birds Bruise Their Beaks?