Sun Parakeet (Aratinga solstitialis) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

The Sun Parakeet, better known to pet owners as the sun conure, is a parrot about 12 in (30 cm) long from northeastern South America, bright yellow with an orange face and belly. It does not live wild in the United States, but captive-bred birds are common pets here; in the wild, trapping for the pet trade has pushed it to Endangered.

Appearance

Appearance: About 12 in (30 cm) long. Adults have a yellow crown, back, and chest, an orange face and belly, green-and-blue wing feathers, and a black bill. Females are often a little slimmer with a smaller head and beak.
Voice: Flocks scream loudly in flight but stay quiet while feeding. Pet birds are famously loud and can mimic a few words, though less well than larger parrots.
Seasonal forms: Young birds have a green crown and upper back and gain their yellow and orange as they mature.

Look-alikes

Jandaya ParakeetAratinga jandaya

Similar yellow head, but the jandaya has a reddish-orange body with green wings and tail. An adult sun parakeet is yellow down the back, with yellow, green, and blue on the wings.

Why they get mixed upBoth are popular pet conures, and the jandaya has been suggested as a possible subspecies of the sun parakeet.

Sulphur-breasted ParakeetAratinga maculata

Very similar, but shows less orange and more green. Young birds of the two species are hard to tell apart in photos.

Why they get mixed upOld specimens of this species were long dismissed as young sun parakeets or hybrids.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: savanna woodland
forest edges
palm groves
Range: Northern Brazil (Roraima), southern Guyana, and the far south of Suriname and French Guiana. It does not live wild in the United States.
Preferred conditions: Warm lowlands, mostly below about 3,900 ft (1,200 m), where fruiting trees and palms are plentiful.

Behavior

Diet: Fruit, flowers, berries, seeds, nuts, and some insects.
Social life: Usually travels in flocks of 15–30 and roosts and nests in tree cavities.

Life cycle

Nest: Tree cavities.
Clutch size: 3–4 white eggs
Incubation: 23–27 days, by the female
Fledging: Young rely on their parents for 7–8 weeks.
Lifespan: Often 25–30 years in captivity.

Name and classification

Varieties and forms: A 'red-factor' color mutation with reddish-orange plumage first appeared among captive birds in Hawaii in the early 2000s; some very red birds have health problems.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: ENEndangeredVery high risk of extinction in the wild
Status: Trapping for the pet trade has sharply cut wild numbers, and fewer than 2,500 birds are thought to remain; more than 20,000 were exported to Singapore alone in 2005–2006. The US banned imports of wild-caught birds in 1992, so birds sold as pets here are captive-bred.