Australian Parrot
The group that gave the world the budgie and the cockatiel, most of it out of dry inland country. Flock birds that call to keep the flock together.
Photo by Stilgherrian, CC BY 2.0
Overview
Australian parrot is a group rather than a species, and the group is large: budgerigars, cockatiels, rosellas, king parrots, galahs, princess parrots and many more, from 30 g to nearly a kilogram. What they share is where they evolved, which is a continent of long droughts and sudden rain.
That shows up as opportunism. Many Australian parrots are nomadic rather than territorial, following rainfall, breeding when conditions allow rather than on a calendar, and eating a broader diet than their tropical relatives.
Temperament
By species, and the range runs from the budgerigar, which is about as easy going as a parrot gets, to the larger cockatoos, which are demanding in every sense.
As a group they are more social and less territorial than many South American parrots, and several of them are genuinely good in company of their own kind. Flock species do badly alone, and a single bird in a quiet house is often the underlying cause of a screaming or plucking problem that gets treated as a behaviour issue.
Care and grooming
A formulated pellet base with vegetables, and seed as part of a diet rather than the whole of it. Several of the grass parrots are ground feeders in the wild and take readily to foraging trays.
Australian species are prone to obesity in captivity for the same reason they thrive in the wild: they evolved to eat hard when food appears. A bowl that is always full and a cage that requires no effort is a combination their bodies did not evolve to handle.
Living and exercise
By species, from 24 inches wide for the small grass parakeets up to an aviary for the larger cockatoos, and wider always beats taller because parrots fly across rather than up.
Flight matters. Australian parrots in the wild cover real distances daily, and the difference between a bird with room to fly and a bird with room to climb is visible in its weight, its feather condition and its temper.
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