I used to own a few Budgies.

[InsanityShard]

I used to have a few Budgies. Tweety, a tough as hell female, Pete, a bright yellow male who kept breaking the eggs of my personal two, Houndour and Sweety.

Tweety: Tough to the point of not even being startled by a 12 foot carpet python wrapped around the cage. She was my mums Budgie and it showed. She was alone in it at the time, but mum beat the python up with a broom. Tweety didn't like being in with other birds much, she lived to be 14 or so years old.
Pete: My stepads Budgie, named after his brother, kinda nutty. When Houndour and Sweety, my two budgies, were breeding in a nesting box mum got, Pete kept breaking their eggs. he lasted around 4 years before getting out of the cage during cleaning and just flying off, never to be seen again.
Sweety: My own tough female Budgie. Cause of death unknown. 6 years old. Not as tough as Tweety, but she was a very adorable budgie who liked Houndour and was a great companion to him. her presence seemed to calm Tweety down.
Houndour: My special budgie. 8 years old at time of death. We had just moved to the other side of town, while mum blames the midges for his death, she had accidentally bought cockatiel food. The bag was listed as budgie food but I could see the seeds were different, there was some larger seed in there I don't see in small budgie food. She switched him onto that seed without me knowing, and shortly after, he got sick and then died. He was a rare colouration I haven't seen quite the same since. Yellow faced grey, but his belly was a deep grey with a brilliant green hue. He was my special budgie, I tried to train him to perch on my finger shortly after we got him (not hand raised) but I failed as he got out and flew into the wall. I didn't want to try again.

We had tried getting other budgies over the years but they usually startled to death quite quickly where we used to live. So far I haven't had any more birds here because of the fact that I can't keep them outside, but I plan on converting my room and getting a bird harness to take it outside to try again. I want something a bit smarter than a budgie, but nothing larger than a cockatiel, we have since gotten a mini sausage dog and don't know how he'd react to a bird. My own personal experience is only with Budgies, but my mother has bred budgies and canaries, and has had experience with cockatiels and a few others.

[InsanityShard]

One time Sweety got out and Gonzo, our cat, who had never tried to go after the budgies, chased her down and brought her back. He didn't hurt her at all, just carried her like a kitten or the baby bush turkeys he used to grab from the nearby brushland. Our other cat, Skitty, was a bit of a worry. She didn't directly go after the birds (She's never hunted successfully on her own) but she'd sit under the cage meowing and sometimes scared them.
Meanwhile, Gonzo was afraid of pythons. If there was one nearby he hid. But he chased away smaller snakes, like tree snakes, from the cage. He protected out budgies.

[Wolf]

I think that you were very lucky to have the cat bring your budgie back unharmed as cats eat birds and their saliva is not good for a bird.

[InsanityShard]

Well, it's just that cats personality. He doesn't harm our other pets, he's very laid back and you can even vaccuum him. He only brings pests he catches, chases off snakes but not Pythons, and again, if a bird is in a cage he doesn't even look at it. He sleeps on top of the fish tank when he can be he won't even try to get the fish. He's a funny cat. He can't hunt so well anymore, his eyesight is going, but again while we had budgies that was the only time he ever sorta went after them. He would always bring back baby bush turkeys the same way. Recently there was a pigeon that had been shot hiding in our yard and he didn't go after that, either. All he did was sniff his carrier when I put the pigeon in there to take to the vet.

[Pajarita]

Well, just in case, I would not trust that a cat that catches birds and holds them in his mouth does not mean harm. My cats would catch the occasional mouse and, if I see (or hear because they make a special growl when they do) it happening and act quickly, I can take the mouse out of their mouth without a single hair disturbed in their bodies but, if I don't get to it fast enough, they kill it after a while.

[InsanityShard]

When Gonzo would bring them to us he'd just let them go and wouldn't chase them again. But as I said, his eyesights gone. He can't do it anymore.

[Wolf]

Well that is a two edged sword, so to speak. It is good that he doesn't hunt birds and such, but it is bad that he is losing his eyesight. He must be getting pretty old.

[InsanityShard]

He's around 13 now. But he's still adorable and fluffy and soft and will still protect my birds when I get them.

[liz]

My critters are a tight group. When I bring in another critter they accept it as a brother or sister even if they are not the same species.

They take the position as the older children taking care of the younger ones.
Fancy cat as a kitten protected a cockatiels that got out while I was out from the rest of the critters in the house that were not mine. She had never killed anything but a fly if it was bothering her. She did think that I wanted more birds and would bring wild ones in to give me. I tried to discourage her by taking them and releasing them off the front porch. I did it so many times that one time when I was busy she just sat by the front door. She had a bird and was going to release it without me if someone would open the door for her.

Another time when I had Tweetle Dee outside the bottom of the cage fell off and he flew. I think it was Squeakie cat that chased it and pined him to the ground by crossing her front legs over him.

As a kitten Squeakie caught birds. I would chase her down and take them away. She finally learned not to go after wild birds. Every morning after that I found a dead mole laying in the very same place on the front porch.

I know that my household is strange. I really did not teach them. It is more like the older critters taught the rules to the younger ones. I stopped Chloe from teaching Myrtle how to use the dog door.

[Pajarita]

He's around 13 now. But he's still adorable and fluffy and soft and will still protect my birds when I get them.

13 is not that old. I have never heard of a cat losing its sight due to old age. It's common with dogs because they all end up getting lenticular sclerosis but, although I know it can happen to cats, too, I've never had or seen a single one with it (I have an 18 and a 17 year old right now and their eyes are fine - even the one that died at 21 had good eyes).