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From: bonnie@hanauma.stanford.edu (Bonnie Rippere)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Indoor Antics
Keywords: Australian birds
Message-ID: <739@helens.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 11 Jul 90 21:18:31 GMT
References: <840@cfiprod.UUCP> <332@spam.ua.oz>
Sender: news@helens.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Stanford University, Department of Geophysics
Lines: 32

In article <332@spam.ua.oz> wvenable@spam.ua.oz (Bill Venables) writes:
>>First, my blue budgie ...
>>Second, my six month old cockatiel ...
>
>Two Australian parrots!  How quaint.  I have a few questions for you
>folks in the USA/Canada/UK, if I may
>
>1) Are any other Australian birds popular pets?
>
>2) Have any Australian birds managed to establish themselves as feral
>   populations overseas?  (We have heaps of English, European and
>   Asian feral species here, :-(, but no American as far as I know.)
>
>Just a few snippets about Budgerigars and Cockatiels before I go.

Thanks for the budgie and cockatiel comments - I found them pretty
interesting, as I have really only dealt with these birds as tame species.
I would really love to see a large flock of cockatiels - that must 
be a sight!
1- Cockatiels and budgies are really the most popular of the Australian
birds - easily bred and all that.  Cockatoos also are popular, but much
less common.  Most of the parrots which people get here, though, are
South American.  (Other people out there who know better, please feel
free to correct me!)
2- I believe the only wild populations of Australian birds (meaning parrots)
that we have in the states are the flocks of wild parakeets which one
may find in Florida.  These apparently grew from pet birds which were
released or escaped, rather than immigrants from Australia!  I don't know
too much about the less visually-ostentatious birds, but I can't recall
hearing of Australian finches or sparrows, etc.  Again, others are
welcome to correct me.
	Bonnie Rippere - Stanford