Status: Undetermined
Birds can be very clever, but so clever that they'll take up stitching as a hobby? I'm not so sure about that, though that's what
Sandra Battye claims of her three-year-old budgie, Spike. She says:
"She would sit on my shoulder and watch me for hours. One day I just sat and didn’t stitch. It seemed to frustrate her. Then suddenly she picked up the needle in her beak and began cross-stitching herself. I was staggered. Now I can’t stop her. She still gets a bit confused at how the patterns work but she is very good at pulling and pushing the needle through the fabric."
Cross-Stitcher magazine gave Spike its Young Cross-Stitcher of the Year Award for 2005. I'm willing to believe that the budgie might enjoy picking up the needle and tugging on it... but actually maneuvering the needle through the fabric is a bit harder to believe. Though sometimes animals do amazing things. I'd like to see a video of Spike in action before I list this as real. I'm curious how much help the owner gives the budgie. (Thanks to Melanie Brock for the link)
Comments
Eventually we just decided that it's going to come and go as it pleases and left the door open, and low to the ground (it's wings were clipped) so it could climb back in when it decided to go home. Aside from random mutes (poo) laying around, it worked out well - the bird was happy to be free and I occasionally got a friendly wakeup call from my budgie.
Anyway, reminiscing aside, I wouldn't be at all surprised if this were for real. Holding a needle in its beak, pushing it into the cloth, then pulling it out the other side is not something that is beyond a budgie's physical capacity. And based on the interactions I've had with pet birds it seems plausible that a budgie could pick up the basic idea of cross stitching.
How does it pull it back?
Anyone who thinks it can produce a coherent design should shoot themselves.
Would a bird deliberately cross-stitch thread into a human-recognizable pattern?
Not on this planet, cupcake.
I don't really know much about budgies; does anyone suppose you could train one to follow a line that was drawn on the fabric?
I don't think it was stitching patterns though - just straight lines, and I don't think they were particularly tight as someone just appeared to have lumped a big pile of cloth on the floor for the budgie to have a go at.
I'm not saying Spike can actually follow a pattern but if the owner prepped the needle? I can totally see her pushing and pulling a shiny needle attached to some string {perhaps even giving some good tugs to pull it tight) after she watched her owner playing with them.
AND THE FACT THAT I'VE GOT 2 BUDGIES AS WELL ISN'T HERE OR THERE, BECAUSE I LOVE MY VERY NOISY
BIRDIES, EVEN IF THEY DO CAUSE HAVOC IN MY HOME. CHEWING ON THE CURTAINS AND CHEWING THE WOODWORK... OKAY :gulp: