The Budgerigar (Melopisittacus undulatus) was first recorded in the wild in the late 1700‘s and is a native of Australia where it can be seen flocking in huge numbers sometimes into the thousands. The word Budgerigar is derived from the Aboriginal word Betcherrygah that means good food.

In the wild the Budgerigar will nest almost anywhere there is enough food for the flock and will build there nests in tree hollows, in dead trees where there is plenty of rotten wood they will even make nests in the ground and under rocks. This makes the Budgerigar one of the most easiest birds to keep and breed as they will accept a wide variety of nest box and cage designs

Another variation on the theme is the Crested Budgerigar which is proving to be very popular, Maybe the way forward is in the feather type and feather mutation for the ever changing world of Budgerigar breeding, who knows but it might be finding out and trying a bit yourself, You never know you might be good at it

Back To Main Page

The wild Budgerigar is light green in colour as shown in the picture, It has a yellow face with black bands down the back of the head and wings.

It is from these humble beginnings that the modern show birds have evolved. The first captive breeding took place in Europe in the mid 1850‘s with the yellow being the first colour variation recorded in 1870 in Germany with the blue variant following closely in 1878.

The colour variations continued until the latest addition in 1974 when the spangle first appeared in the aviaries of Merve Jones of Melbourne Australia