Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Psittaciformes > Psittacidae > Melopsittacus > Melopsittacus undulatus

Melopsittacus undulatus (Budgerigar)

Synonyms: Psittacus undulatus

Wikipedia Abstract

The budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) /ˈbʌdʒərᵻɡɑːr/, also known as the common pet parakeet or shell parakeet and informally nicknamed the budgie, is a small, long-tailed, seed-eating parrot. Budgerigars are the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus, and are found wild throughout the drier parts of Australia where the species has survived harsh inland conditions for the last five million years. Budgerigars are naturally green and yellow with black, scalloped markings on the nape, back, and wings, but have been bred in captivity with colouring in blues, whites, yellows, greys, and even with small crests. Budgerigars are popular pets around the world due to their small size, low cost, and ability to mimic human speech. is unclear. The species was first recorded in 1805, and
View Wikipedia Record: Melopsittacus undulatus

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
6
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
29
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 13.1721
EDGE Score: 2.65128
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  29 grams
Birth Weight [2]  2.2 grams
Diet [3]  Granivore
Diet - Seeds [3]  100 %
Forages - Understory [3]  40 %
Forages - Ground [3]  60 %
Clutch Size [6]  5
Egg Length [1]  0.709 inches (18 mm)
Fledging [1]  35 days
Global Population (2017 est.) [5]  200,000,000
Incubation [4]  18 days
Mating Display [2]  Ground display
Mating System [2]  Monogamy
Maximum Longevity [4]  21 years
Snout to Vent Length [1]  7 inches (19 cm)
Wing Span [7]  11 inches (.27 m)
Female Maturity [4]  6 months
Male Maturity [4]  6 months
Wintering Geography [5]  Non-migrartory

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Southwest Australia Australia No

Prey / Diet

Astrebla pectinata (barley Mitchell grass)[8]
Boerhavia diffusa (red spiderling)[8]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Competing SpeciesCommon Prey Count
Euplectes afer (Yellow-crowned Bishop)1
Geophaps plumifera (Spinifex Pigeon)1

Predators

Accipiter badius (Shikra)[8]
Accipiter cirrocephalus (Collared Sparrowhawk)[8]
Falco longipennis (Australian Hobby)[9]
Morelia spilota spilota (Diamond python)[10]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 3Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 4de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 5Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 7Estimating the Airspeed Velocity of an Unladen Swallow, Jonathan Corum, November 17, 2003
♦ 8del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 9Olsen, J., E. Fuentes, DM Bird, AB Rose, and D. Judge. 2008. Dietary shifts based upon prey availability in Peregrine Falcons and Australian Hobbies breeding near Canberra, Australia Journal of Raptor Research 42:125–137
♦ 10Feeding Habits of the Diamond Python, Morelia s. spilota: Ambush Predation by a Boid Snake, David J. Slip and Richard Shine, Journal of Herpetology, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 323-330, 1988
♦ 11Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0