It is a great responsibility to keep animals such as cats and dogs at home, but animals such as birds and fish have relatively easy maintenance conditions because they live in cages and aquariums. For this reason, many people in the world and in our country have or have kept a budgie at home once. Although the budgerigar is popular as a pet, it actually still lives in the wild.
Perhaps the widest range of color differences belongs to the budgerigar species. In fact, this creature is not found in nature with so many different colors, but as it was bred by humans, dozens of different colors emerged. The genre, on the other hand, is not as diverse as one might think. Let’s take a closer look at the species, colors and characteristics of the budgerigar and see the details about this cute creature.
The budgerigar has a single species, dozens of different colors:
The budgerigar, whose species name is Latin melopsittacus undulatus, is known as budgie in the world. Parakeets, which are related to parrots, have been kept as pets since the 1850s. Although budgerigars with an average lifespan of 15 years have taken their place in our civilization as pets, there are still wild budgerigars.
The budgerigar is divided into two main types; traditional budgie and English budgie. The traditional budgerigar belongs to the class Melopsittacus, native to the continent of Australia, and has two basic color combinations, green and yellow with black stripes, and a mixture of blue, green and black.
English budgie is the name given to domestic budgies. So actually there is no such thing as budgerigar species, these birds are just one species. However, budgerigars, which are found in nature with two basic color combinations, took on different colors when they were domesticated and started to be mated by humans. Although detailed, there are currently 32 known color combinations of budgies.
Budgerigars according to their basic colors and their characteristics:
- Sky blue budgie
- Cobalt budgie
- Lilac budgie
- gray budgie
- Violet budgie
- White budgie
- Albino budgie
- Light green budgie
- Dark green budgie
- Olive budgie
- Gray – green budgie
- yellow budgie
- Lutino budgie
sky blue budgie:
The sky blue budgie is a variation of the white-bottomed budgerigar. Since it does not have any dark color factor, the lightest color is the sky blue budgerigar. It has dark blue, black, purple spots on its cheeks and tail.
Cobalt budgie:
The cobalt parakeet is a variation of the white-bottomed parakeet. This variation is dominated by a single dark color factor. It is possible to say that cobalt is a much darker blue than sky blue. It has purple cheeks and a dark blue tail.
Lilac budgie:
The lilac budgie is a variation of the white-bottomed parakeet. Two dark color factors dominate in this variation, blue and lilac. The bluish mauve color can be mixed with gray. The lilac budgie has much brighter purple cheeks and a much brighter blue tail than the gray.
gray budgie:
The gray budgie is a variation of the white-bottomed budgerigar. With the disappearance of the blue color factor, the gray color becomes dominant. The tail feathers of some may be close to black. There are purple cheek patches.
Violet budgie:
The violet budgerigar is a variation of the white-bottomed budgerigar. This color variation is the one that will give the most different colors when mated. On the dark color factor of green and blue the violet budgie can appear but the most familiar is the blue one.
white budgie:
The white budgie is a variation of the white-bottomed budgerigar. This color variation does not have any dark color factor. The cheek and tail of the white budgie are also white. Sometimes yellow tones can be seen at some points.
Albino budgie:
The albino parakeet is a variation of the white-bottomed parakeet. While the white budgie has color pigments, even if it is not dominant, the albino budgie has no color pigments at all. However, there may be color in the parts that are not visible under the hair.
Light green budgie:
The light green budgie is a variation of the yellow-bottomed budgerigar. Light green is one of the natural colors of the traditional budgerigar. It is bright as it has no dark color factor. When you go deeper, it is seen that it has the necessary blue and yellow factors to create the green color.
Dark green budgie:
The dark green budgie is a variation of the yellow-bottomed budgerigar. This variation is dominated by a dark color factor that makes the green deeper and darker. The cheek spots and tail are dark violet.
Olive budgie:
The olive budgie is a variation of the yellow-bottomed parakeet. This variation is dominated by two dark color factors, so the darkest green color is in the olive budgerigar. It has purple cheek patches, a dark blue tail, and much more speckled plumage.
Gray – green budgie:
The gray-green budgie is a variation of the yellow-bottomed budgerigar. The olive budgie and the gray-green budgie are distinguished by their cheek and tail colours. The gray-green budgerigar has gray-blue cheeks and a nearly black tail.
yellow budgie:
The yellow budgie is a variation of the yellow-bottomed budgerigar. The yellow budgie is almost like a chick and does not carry any other color pigments. Some bright green hairs may be encountered when digging deeper.
Lutino budgie:
The Lutino parakeet is a variation of the yellow-bottomed parakeet. The white-based variation is albino, while the yellow-based variation is lutino. It is bright yellow in color with bright white and bright silver.
We got to know this cute creature a little more closely by explaining the budgerigar species, colors and features, which are among the most popular pets. Since variations can be combined with mating, it is possible to encounter many different color combinations apart from the basic colors.