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Project Noah Nature School
Melopsittacus undulatus
A small green parakeet with yellow head and blue tail. This one is a male. These gregarious seed eaters can live in flocks of many thousands.
These are captive at the Melbourne zoo.
They occur widely throughout the continent of Australia and adapt well to dry habitats. Color forms occur only by domestication. They are the worlds most popular pet, not counting cats and dogs, and probably goldfish.
Spotted on Aug 21, 2013
Submitted on Aug 21, 2013
8 Comments
Thanks Karen, Keith and Adarsha
Very cute :)
Keith. Green color is achieved by genes for blue and yellow. Domestic breeds lacking blue gene are yellow and if the yellow gene is missing the bird is blue with a white head. Other forms occur. These are all budgies AKA parakeets. Parakeet is a loosely defined name for some small parrots.
I saw a show that some feather glow for birds that see UV light so to another bird they are twice as pretty!
I think the wild ones are normally green. The other colors showed up via selective breeding for pets . I actually think the green ones are the prettiest!
Do they come in white,yellow, and blue or are those only pet parakeets?
Thanks Ali. Its our smallest parrot.
So Cute!