I recall the first time I saw the “monster” birds that are common place and I was amazed at the prices being paid for good birds. I was convinced that I wanted to continue breeding harlequins and looked around for some to buy.

At the time, there weren’t many quality birds available for sale in Canberra but I managed to track some down in Sydney including some harlequins, and I was away. Thanks to some close mentoring from Tim Tasi, within 12 months I bred my first winner, a nice recessive pied grey cock bird. This bird won many awards and went on to come 2nd at the NSW State selections show and 3rd at the National Championships in 1999. Needles to say, I was very happy.

The next few years also produced many more highlights including my first Grand Champion winner in 2001 and my first National win in 2003.

I’m Mario Capasso from Canberra , the capital city of Australia.

I’ve been breeding budgerigars since 1975 when I was 10 years old. Back then I bred in a colony situation and had a special love for harlequins or the recessive pied. However this was just a side interest. My true passion was for show dogs and it was here that I first became familiar with AI as it is common practise in the dog world. In 1997, after giving up my show dogs, I decided I’d start breeding the modern exhibition budgerigars.

While in partnership, I also bred a 2nd and 5th place national birds as well as 1st and 2nd in 2005 at the state show with 2 cinnamon cock birds.

Due to dramatic changes in my personal life, I’ve twice had to give up the birds but never actually left the hobby. Despite the fact that I could not have any birds at my own home, I was fortunate enough to have a solid partnership which kept me involved in the birds.