Jane Lamont, age 12, of Prescott, Ariz., for her question:
HOW CAN YOU TELL A FEMALE PARAKEET FROM A MALE?
A parakeet is a small brightly colored member of the parrot family. You can find parakeets with green, red, blue, orange, yellow or purple feathers. The most common kind used as a pet is the budgerigar, or "budgie."
You can tell the sex of an adult budgie by the color of the skin at the nostrils. In the male, the color is bluish, while in the female it is brownish.
The budgie is also sometimes called the budgerygah or shell parakeet. The birds live very well in captivity and become very tame.
Most budgies can be trained to talk. It is best to start when the bird is only a few weeks old. Experts say that you should repeat the same word or phrase over and over until the budgie repeats it.
Both the male and the female budgies can learn many words. Some bird trainers believe that the male learns faster than the female.
Lots of people enjoy breeding parakeets. Amateur parakeet breeders often find the hobby both fun and profitable.
The best time of the year far breeding the birds is in the spring. Birds that have hatched in March, April and May will then benefit from the sun and warmth of the summer.
Special housing is necessary during the breeding season because the space for one bird isn't large enough for two. The female bird lays an average of five eggs. The eggs hatch in about 18 to 20 days.
A parakeet may live for about 10 years.
Chief parakeet foods are seeds and fruit. Many species live wild in warm parts of the world.
The ground parakeet nests in bushes in Australia and Tasmania. Most other wild parakeets nest and spend most of their time high up in trees.
One of the largest parakeets in the world is the slatyheaded parakeet which can be found in India, Thailand and Laos. One of the smaller types is the colorful lovebird which can be found in the wilds of Africa.
The bat parakeet, which hangs upside down, is found in Southeast Asia.
The Carolina parakeet once was common in the United States, ranging northward to New York and Illinois. The head of this parakeet was orange and yellow and its body was deep green. These birds were dramatically beautiful.
But then, almost overnight, the Carolina parakeet disappeared. Many of them were killed because milliners wanted their feathers for hat trimming. The last flock was seen in the Florida Everglades in 1904.