Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!munnari.oz.au!metro!cluster!andrewt
From: andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz.au (Andrew Taylor)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Wild Parakeets
Message-ID: <2346@cluster.cs.su.oz.au>
Date: 27 Apr 91 06:42:31 GMT
References: <1991Apr26.120308.2658@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>
Organization: Dept. of Comp. Science, Uni of Sydney, Australia
Lines: 21

In article <1991Apr26.120308.2658@eagle.lerc.nasa.gov>,
xxbruce@convx1.lerc.nasa.gov (Bruce Canright) writes:
>   For several years now we've enjoyed parakeets in our house
> and sometimes wonder what they are liks in "the wild". Are
> they native to Australia? Anyone seen (flocks of) them there?
> What is their diet? and so on...

Budgerigars flocks are a common sight in inland Australia. Only the
green and yellow shell pattern colouring occurs in the wild. I'd guess
grass seeds make up most of their diet. Like many inland birds they
are nomads, their movements and numbers controlled by the availability
of water.

My image of a Budgerigar is a flock of several hundred flashing green &
yellow as it wheels in the early morning sun. The backdrop the pale
red and browns of arid grassland. In the panorama could be scattered Red
Kangaroos with the heads down feeding, a wary pair of Bustards, a strolling Emu,
a Brown Falcon on the limb of an isolated dead tree and a few Cockatiels
calling as they follow the budgies.

Andrew Taylor