The Budgerigar, or Budgie, is a small species of Australian parrot. It can be found throughout the drier parts of Australia and has survived in the inlands of that continent for over 5 million years.
The Budgie is believed to be the most common pet parrot in the world. Budgerigars have been bred in captivity since the 1850s. Their small size and ability to mimic sounds makes them easy and fun to keep as companion pets.
Budgies in the wild have a yellow and green plumage. In aviculture, there are at least 32 primary color mutations in the species, with hundreds of possible secondary mutations and color varieties.
Conservation
The Budgerigar is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2012 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be increasing, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.