This heart-breaking footage shows a budgerigar mourning the death of his friend and struggling to say goodbye.

The astonishing video was captured in Turkey by the owner of the two birds, who filmed the moment he tried to take the dead one away.

Remarkably the budgie stands over the body of his friend and actually attempts to bite the hand of his owner as he reaches for the bird.

Stay back: The budgie attempts to bite the hand of his owner as he reaches for the bird

The bird brings his face down to the head of the dead budgerigar in order to say goodbye

The bird then brings his face down to the head of the dead budgerigar and says goodbye as the man begins rolling the body up in a piece of tissue.

But the bird does not seem ready to let go just yet and almost gets wrapped up with the dead budgerigar in his refusal to move away.

Once the budgie is completely secured within the piece of kitchen roll the bird jumps up on top of it and chases his owner's hand away once again.

He stands guard over the body for a little while longer before returning to the bird and lowering himself to its head.

The bird is not ready to let go and almost gets wrapped up with the dead budgerigar in his refusal to move away

Once the budgie is secured within the piece of kitchen roll the bird jumps up on top of it and chases his owner's hand away

The video concludes with the man picking up the kitchen roll with the bird wrapped inside as the saddened budgie stares up at it.

The man then appears to feel sorry for the little bird and drops it back on the table so that the budgie can say his final goodbye.

Since appearing online the clip has been viewed more than 240,000 times and a number of users have shared their thoughts on the sad footage.

One user wrote: 'Please get it a new friend,' while another said: 'This is the saddest thing I've ever seen.'

A third person wrote: 'The little friend is upset and seems not to want his human to take the friend away. How very sad. Rip little one. Hugs to the caring bird owner. So sorry for your loss.'

Time to go: The man picks up the kitchen roll with the bird wrapped inside as the saddened budgie stares up at it