Flock of Wild Parakeets Swarms a Car in the Australian Outback

Finding birds all over your car isn’t most people’s idea of fun. After all, with birds comes bird poop, and who wants that all over their vehicle? But maybe it depends on the type of bird that visits you. After all, a pandemonium of parakeets might make the mess worth it! One person captured a mesmerizing video of these lime-green birds flying and landing on the top of their car.

YouTuber @RobinsonsRoad shared a viral video of these parakeets, which has 1.7 million views. They wrote, “When you take a break on the road to Arkaroola, South Australia. This large flock of young budgerigars decided our car and caravan was a great place to hang out for a bit.”

How cool is that? In the comments, people were amazed. “Australia, the place where infestations of the most unexpected animals occur,” one person said.

“Surreal seeing what is normally seen as a pet in the wild, and there’s so many of them, they looked like they were trying to take your car!” another wrote. Someone else commented, “Great to see budgies in their habitat. Thanks for sharing!”

These people bring up a good point: parakeets (or budgies, as they’re called in Australia) are typically seen in homes as pets in the U.S., so encountering them in the wild is truly remarkable. And, luckily, you don’t have to fly halfway around the world to see parakeets in their natural habitat.

Where Are Parakeets Found in the Wild?

Parakeets are part of the parrot family (Psittaciformes), which is the most internationally traded group of birds. Parakeets go by many different names, including budgie, budgerigar, shell parrot, flight bird, ring-necked parakeet, and Quaker parakeet. Their feathers might be grey, yellow, blue, white, albino, or green, as seen in the video above. These fun birds are the most popular choice for a pet bird, as they are chatty, low-maintenance, easygoing, and can even learn tricks.

But where do they live in the wild? Budgies actually originated in Australia, and now the 115 species of parakeets can be found in warm regions worldwide, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania. They can easily adapt to their environment, which is why parakeets are found in a variety of habitats, including cities, grasslands, farmland, forests, bogs, and swamps.

How Do Parakeets Behave in the Wild?

Your pet parakeet is probably companionable and social, and it’s the same in the wild. These birds can form flocks of hundreds of thousands of birds to fly together, and they aren’t afraid to stop on a human’s head (or car!) to perch. Researchers believe that flying in a pandemonium this big protects them from potential predators.

What Do Parakeets Eat?

Parakeets are granivores, which means they eat seeds as well as fruits, nuts, flowers, and the occasional insect. When they encounter a farm, parakeets have been known to strip crops such as corn or wheat. For this reason, sometimes parakeets can be considered invasive animals.

Peter Wiederoder, who is a member of the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, described an incident where parakeets caused significant crop damage in a previous interview with PBS. “The difference between the parakeets and the other animals, is the parakeets have that ability to totally wipe out the entire field in a short time period,” he said. “Our scouts came in on a Friday – to check the field out. The field was looking great and in good condition. We came back on Monday and every ear of corn had been totally eaten. It was down to just the cob.”

If you have a pet parakeet, you can feed it a mix of pellets and seeds, and balance out their diet with fruits and vegetables.

How Do Parakeets Sleep?

When it’s time to sleep, parakeets will return to their nest cavities inside tree trunks, like the eucalyptus. All parakeets except monk parakeets opt out of constructing their own nests; instead, they take over nests once used by other animals. Because there are so many of them, they’ll build their own parakeet communities inside trees, where pairs of parakeets will live together, mate, incubate their eggs, and care for their babies.

Parakeets need 8-10 hours of sleep per day, but it might be hard to measure. That’s because they don’t sleep all in one stretch. Parakeets have polyphasic sleep, which is made up of short intervals over a 24-hour period. They also engage in diurnal sleep, where they nap after being active or eating (just like humans!), and nocturnal sleep, where they will sleep in longer stretches of 2-3 hours at night. As a pet owner, you can make sure to provide a comfortable environment for your bird, giving them a dark place to sleep and a variety of different perches to rest on. Parakeets are fascinating creatures, whether you encounter them in the wild or as pets.

The post Flock of Wild Parakeets Swarms a Car in the Australian Outback appeared first on A-Z Animals.