My Australian budgie parakeet just lost his cage mate. I didn't realize it until I looked at the dead bird Polo. His cere was black. They were both males with blue ceres. Now Marcos cere is steadily turning darker. Does this happen with age? Or is Marco getting sick with something Polo had. Both birds were in the range of 7 to 9 years old.

Is it possible it's a female because females ceres turn dark and flacky when there ready to mate.

But we know it's a male because for six years of his life he's had a blue cere. *laughs* and more than once he has tried mounting his cagemate and viceversa. XD Plus our vet did a blood test on them after we first bought the pair as young birds. They were definitely both males.

It's very odd for a budgies cere to change color after one year of age. The cere color usually reaches its final color before 1 year of age. The color differences can determine whether the budgie is male or female. A darker (brown, not black) cere, indicates a female bird. Brown is not a normal color for a male.

I really wish I could give you a diagnosis, but considering that this is an older budgie, and this is a sudden change in color, I really would recommend seeing a vet about this.

Good luck.

Thanks. So their cere color doesn't change darker as they get older. So that means both birds had something. I will take him to the vet as soon as possible. I don't want Marco dying from whatever this is that Polo had.