Budgies in the wild

[matt66]

Budgies are supposed to have originated in Australia. Are there wild budgies living in Australia?. are there more pet or wild budgies in this world?

[Thunderbird+]

Yes Matt66, They do indeed originate in Australia and live in huge flocks. I believe its now illegal to trap them in the wild. I would guess there are still more wild ones in the bush than there are captive one's, but I may be wrong.
All the best Tbird+

[wildwood]

There used to be so many wild budgies that when the flocks found water in a drought - usually a farmer's waterhole for cattle - they used to drown by so many when going down to drink, that frequently the farmer would have to net a full truckload of drowned budgies to clean the water for drinking. Honest.
They have settled down in numbers but as Tbird said, they are still around in HUGE flocks.

The wild buderigar is a little fellow barely 6 inches and nothing like the domesticated ones.

[Simeon]

On a slight tangent, I heard that there are flocks of wild parakeets and ********** living in the south east around London. These are obviously breeding escapees which are thriving due to the milder climate.

[Ed Strong]

Simeon, I live in SE London and indeed we do have flocks of red-ringed parakeets living here. My daughter lives in Kent and backs on to fields where they live in huge numbers. They are lovely to look at but very noisy. I have seen them in flight and perched in trees (usually very tall mature trees with plenty of 'holes' in the trunks) but I have never seen them on the ground. Although predominantly seen in the South of England they are gradually making their way north. They are now so common that on the programme 'Birdwatch' they said they are now classed as 'native' birds.

[Andyvon]

Budgerigars are members of the parakeet family and do live wild in Australia in huge flocks. They perch in trees and fences just as birds do here.
I have seen the parrakeets in London too. There is a flock of large green ones with red beaks that live in a large park near the Thames in Staines. I can't remember the name of the park though.