Friday, June 26, 2009

What's a parakeet and what's not...

This is interesting:
All of these are parakeets, not because of their looks, but because ornithologists have looked at the DNA relationship between all of these species and decided that they are all close enough to all be considered true parakeets.

Like most exotic bird aficionados, I'd always assumed that the term "parakeet" simply referred to any parrot with a long tail. In fact, I had an Alexandrine, and understood that the terms "parakeet" and "parrot" were routinely used interchangably for that species. I guess not.

Check Budgerigars: defining a parakeet, for more on this.

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