Parakeet Bird on a Tree Branch

Alternate titles: parrakeet

parakeet, also spelled Parrakeet, any of numerous seed-eating parrots of small size, slender build, and long, tapering tail. In this sense the name is given to some 115 species in 30 genera of the subfamily Psittacinae (family Psittacidae) and has influenced another parrot name, lorikeet (see parrot). To indicate size only, the name is sometimes extended to little parrots with short, blunt tails, as the hanging parrots, or bat parrotlets, Loriculus species, popular cage birds in their native area, India to Malaya and the Philippines.
The most popular caged parakeet is the budgerigar, or shell parakeet (Melopsittacus undulatus; see photograph). Mistakenly called lovebird, this 19-cm (7.5-inch) parakeet has hundreds of colour mutations from the green and yellow basic stock; but cheek spots and close barring on the upper parts usually persist. Sexes look alike but may differ seasonally in colour of the cere, the bare skin at the base of the bill. Budgerigars are seed eaters; in the wild, they form large flocks in Australia’s grasslands. They breed colonially, in tree holes, laying six to eight eggs twice a year. Most budgerigars are hardy, surviving for 5 to 10 years.