You never know with Budgies! - is it the same for other types of birds? - must be?

I have to agree with that. I got both Sugar and Spice when they were both babes and I treated them equally. But Sugar has always been the quiet one who won't play with toys and sits in the same spot and moves little(except he loves to fly.) Spice is all over the cage, talking to every toy, jumping on his swing and interested in anything new. Same parronting but just totally different personalities.

OMG I love this description! Jerry is absolutely a crazy missile with ants in his pants The dude is the energizer bunny times 10, he just never stops. From the moment the lights go on in the morning til I turn them off at night (no they're not on all day, but I have to feed them before I leave which is currently before sunrise, so the lights have to go on), he's play-play-play all day long! Last night he was just itching to get out from the moment I got home. I walked in to say hi to them and he was bouncing from perch to perch and doing somersaults like crazy.

I just love watching them. We put Peewee in the aviary and at first we thought the others were picking on her. It seems they have a game of tag, catch me if you can every morning. It is different budgies getting chased and doing the chasing, that is till somebirdie crashes into a resting perch potato. They can hang on the roof and fall straight into a high speed dive, it is amazing how they turn just before the floor and soar again. The aviary is about 6 foot high and about 8 x 8 foot.

I know exactly what you mean - at first we weren't sure if Jerry and Winston were picking on each other or didn't like each other, but they also play a game of tag and musical perches.

And I LOVE to see Jerry doing a high speed dive straight down and then pull up at the last second, it's really breathtaking.

LOL "ants in the pants" now I miss my grandmother that was a favorite expression of hers.

OK no offense to that guy but I think Winston is a much more handsome English than the show birds. But then again he's not as typey and being typey isn't something that I like so much in any animal. I particularly don't like seeing slit eyes or all that feathering taking up space around the eye.

Look at the English Bulldogs at shows they can barely make the walk around the ring from being so overdone. My Bulldogs were not that way and much healthier for it. But show people would say they were not in good conformation. My vet, however, said both would make good fathers because they would pass down more healthy genes than the show dogs. Especially Spunky, my runt who could hike 3 hours (at his own pace) and walked alot daily. If I were a breeder which I wasn't.

Now about the lethargy. I dont think any healthy bird would be lethargic but there are some Budgies that you could call maybe more passive or calm. I never described the English as lethargic but for sure I found them to all be more calm. This doesnt mean they dont play and there are some Americans that are passive and calm too, but if I were going to stereotype, I'd say the Americans are much more active. And the English...distinguished is a good word I guess. Could be a size thing I dont know and both types are fun anyway.

There are a couple more stereotypes imo, not all birds always the same but alot. Like albino or lutinos being more high strung or sensitive. (dont know if it's totally true for budgies but nobody bites as hard as a lutino hen lol.) I think it's the same with humans my albino friend talks about it alot. And having weak eyesight goes with the gene. And in all my years having a store only TWO birds ever had a health problem and they came in from the breeder with it and it was respiratory and fixed but they were both Lutino. Could be a coincidence? And now I'm off topic

here's a google on English budgie calmer and there seems to be alot of threads about it...

english budgies calmer - Google Search

.......too funny

Awww, Winston and I thank you for the compliment - Winston's look is more appealing to me too, rather than the super long feathers.

I agree that lethargic is probably the wrong word and I like calm/passive much better. The English budgies have always looked so distinguished in pictures I've seen - and so far Winston is much more distinguished that Jerry the clown budgie (currently I'm typing one handed while he's hanging sideways off a finger ogling at Lulu who's hiding on one of my shoulders LOL)