Melopsittacus undulatus
grrlscientist | October 31, 2009tags: Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, photographed in Boulia Shire, far west Queensland, Australia [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Ann Britton [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
News story:
This year's floods along river systems such as the Diamantina and Georgina sparked prolific breeding by the budgies which have been feasting on an abundance of grass seeds.
"I have been here since 1983 and never seen anything like it…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2008tags: yawning, thermoregulation, budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, animal behavior
Yawning human, Homo sapiens serving as a perch for a domestic budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus.
Image: Wendy (Creative Commons License).
Yawning. Everybody does it. In fact, I am yawning now as I write this piece. Yawning is interpreted to have a variety of meanings, ranging from tiredness to boredom. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that yawning is contagious among humans, at least: watching someone else yawn, seeing a photograph or reading about -- and even the mere thought of -- yawning is…
grrlscientist | October 21, 2008tags: Parrots in the Land of Oz, parrots, behavior, Australia, nature, ornithology, streaming video
Did you know that budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus -- erroneously known as "parakeets" in the United States -- can see UV light? Did you know that female budgerigars rely on the UV reflectance to judge the quality of potential mates? This is a fascinating little trailer about wild budgerigars from the Nature program Parrots in the Land of Oz, which airs on PBS on 19, 20 and 21 October [1:43]
grrlscientist | May 23, 2008tags: budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus, birds, parrots, Image of the Day
Third in a series of psittacine images by this photographer.
Budgerigar (Budgie), Melopsittacus undulatus.
Image: John Del Rio [larger view].
This parrot's scientific name means "song parrot with wavy lines" and its aboriginal name was close to "budgerigar" meaning "good eating" -- they consumed these small parrots as snacks!
The bird in the above picture is a blue morph of this species. The wild-type coloring for Budgerigars is green. A blue bird results in those individuals that cannot manufacture yellow pigment…