parakeet

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Budgerigar

A parakeet is a term for any one of a large number of unrelated small to medium sized species of parrot, that generally have long tail feathers.

Species

The budgerigar or budgie comes from Australia. They are common and popular pets throughout the world. In the U.S. the terms parakeet or gypsy parrot are commonly used to refer specifically to this bird. This is imprecise because there are many different species of parakeets. The majority of parakeets are either blue, yellow, or green, but there are other colors available by breeding, including albino.^[1]

The term grass parakeet or grasskeet refers to a large number of small Australian parakeets native to grasslands such as Neophema and Princess Parrot. The Australian rosellas are also parakeets.

The term ringneck parakeet refers to a number of African and Asian parakeet species of the Psittacula genus. The Alexandrine parakeet is one of the largest parrots commonly referred as a parakeet.

In aviculture the more precise term conure is used for small to medium sized parakeets of the genera Aratinga, Pyrrhura, and a few other genere of the tribe Arini, which are mainly endemic to South America. As they are not all from one genera, taxonomists tend to dislike the term.

Some other South American species commonly called parakeets include the Brotogeris parakeets, monk parakeet and lineolated parakeets (although lineolated parakeets have short tails).

Some species, especially the larger parakeets, and may be referred to as 'parrot' or 'parakeet' interchangeably. For example, Alexandrine parrot and Alexandrine parakeet are used to refer to the same species. An older orthography still sometimes encountered is paroquet.

Many of the smaller, long tailed species of Lories may be referred to as lorikeets.

Characteristics

In some cases parakeets can mimic words of their owners or other sounds. The birds in some cases can attack each other. They eat seeds and fruit. They often will find various ways to try and get out of their cage, in some cases the bars may be just big enough they can actually get caught.

Media

See also

• Cockatiel
• Macaw

References