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Budgerigars are nomadic birds found in open habitats, primarily in Australian scrubland, open woodland and grassland. The birds are normally found in small flocks, but can form very large flocks under favourable conditions. The species is extremely nomadic and the movement of the flocks is tied to the availability of food and water. Drought can drive flocks into more wooded habitat or coastal areas. They feed on the seeds of spinifex, grass weeds, and sometimes ripening wheat.

Breeding in the wild generally takes place between June and September in northern Australia and between August and January in the south. But budgerigars are opportunistic breeders responding to rains when grass seeds become most abundant. budgerigars show signs of affection to their flockmates by preening or feeding one another. Budgerigars feed one another by eating the seeds themselves, and then regurgitating it into their flockmates' mouth. Populations in some areas have increased as a result of increased water availability at farms. The nest is in a hole in a tree, fence post or even a log lying on the ground; the 4-6 eggs are incubated for 18–21 days, with the young fledging about 30 days after hatching.

In the wild, virtually all parrot species require a hollow tree or a hollow log as a nest site. Because of this natural behavior, budgerigars most easily breed in captivity when provided with a nest box. The eggs are typically 1 to 2 centimetres long and are plain white without any coloration. Female budgerigars can lay eggs without a male partner but these eggs are unfertilized and will not hatch.When the female is laying eggs her cere turns a crusty brown color. A female budgerigar will lay her eggs on alternate days. After the first one, there is usually a two-day gap until the next. She will usually lay between four to eight eggs, which she will incubate (usually starting after laying her 2nd or 3rd) for about 21 days each. Budgerigar hens only leave their nests for very quick defecations and stretches once they've begun incubating and are by then almost exclusively fed by their cocks (usually at the nest's entrance). Depending on the clutch size and the beginning of incubation, the age difference between the first and last hatchling can be anywhere from 9 to 16 days.

Male specimens of budgerigars are considered one of the top five talking champions amongst parrot species, alongside Psittacus erithacus ssp. (Congo/Cameroon/Ghana/Princep's and/or Timneh African Grey Parrots), Amazona spp. (Amazon Parrot species), Eclectus ssp. (Eclectus sub-species) and Psittacula spp. (Afro-Asian Ringnecked Parakeet species).

A budgerigar named Puck holds the world record for the largest vocabulary of any bird, at 1,728 words. Puck, a male budgerigar owned by American Camille Jordan, died in 1994, with the record first appearing in the 1995 edition of Guinness World Records.

According to his owners, Puck displayed a skill for rhyming, humor, and some contextual verbal development.

In 2001, recordings of a budgerigar called Victor got some attention from the media. Victor's owner, Ryan B. Reynolds of Canada, states that Victor was able to engage in contextual conversation and predict the future.

Though some believe the animal was able to predict his own death as was claimed, further study on the subject is difficult without the bird. The recordings still remain to be proven or disproven by scientific analysis. Critics argue that Victor's speech in the recordings is not coherent enough to be determined as spoken in context.

this bird is lovely and my favorite. We are calling this type of bird parkiet in Dutch ( English parakeet..??)
My grandmother had several.
The first one became very old, it was a male, and talked for hours 24/7 whilst sitting on his potty.

Once I was visiting Indonesia, Java, I heard those birds everywhere just everywhere. It sounded like heaven yet I could not see those, they were perfectly hidden in the big green trees.

Hi Philo,
Thank you for your comment and these are truly beautiful birds to have as a pet in the home.
One problem with these birds is that they are prone to having heart problems and tumors and often die quite young which is sad.
We have had a quite a few of these birds over our life time and they are very easily trained to talk and sit on your finger and shoulder and will talk in your ear for hours if you can stand it!

One thing Philo you have us curious about sitting on a potty? is that a real potty or did you mean perch? As we cannot imagine one of them sitting on a potty if you get our meaning?

Hope your well and having a happy week,
Warm Wishes,
Heather and Terry

hahaha sorry for the confusion.
I'll explain:

my grandmother had this special extra feeding dish for her parakeet bird called Polly.
He was supposed to get a treat of this special , vitamins enriched food only one time in two days. She gave it to him in this special dish, separately from his ordinary one.
He liked that expensive food ofcourse and it was empty within seconds.
Than, he decides to sit on this dish and start talking on it.. and after some hours it became clear that he did not leave it and dropped his little poops in it too. He kept sitting on it for days, weeks, for the rest of his life, talking and pooping...of course so it became his official potty...and my grandma decided to mix this vitamine blend with the ordinary food instead.

Best wishes to both of you,
P.

Hi Philo,
This is the cutest story I have heard in a long time about Polly.

I can picture this and loved the way you described it to us ,sitting and talking and pooping and lived like this for many years.

I can see why your Grandma of course decided to mix in his special food with his other feed otherwise Polly would not like to eat at all.

Philo you have had a very intertesting life and I bet you talk about these days still with your family and friends and have a laugh.

Have you anymore nice stories as we would love to hear them,

Many thanks for this story,
Hugs and best wishes,
Heather and Terry