How can you tell the difference between scratching and plucking in parakeets?

I have a young male blue parakeet, I spend time with him both inside and outside of his cage everyday, his cage is constantly clean, he gets a bath once a week, and his food and water is changed daily. Today, he looked like he was scratching himself but a few little feathers came out, he's been doing this every now and then since he started today, was he just scratching, or is this the beginning of "plucking"?

It is rare for a budgie to pluck itself. It is more common in larger parrots. The signs you are seeing are more to do with scratching most likely at a time it is also moulting for the feathers to be falling away as it scratches.

It is normal for birds to lose feathers every now and then. When one falls out another grows in its place. This bird could also be molting. You just need to pay attention to how many feathers are actually coming out as well as if there are bare spots where it is just the down feathers. You can put shareable toys in his cage to keep his beak busy. You can visit my website where I have a section on plucking birds. http://thebirdnerdsrescue.com/LoveMyPlucker.aspxAlso this forum is a great place to ask questions such as this :)http://forums.avianavenue.com/