Sun Conure
Aratinga solstitialis
CLASS: Aves
ORDER: Psittaciformes (parrots)
FAMILY: Psittacidae
SIZE:
About 1 foot in length
RANGE:
Guianas, northeastern Brazil, and southeastern Venezuela
HABITAT:
Open forests, savanna, and palm groves
DIET:
Wild - Fruits, berries, seeds, nuts, and blossoms
Zoo - Fruits, parrot mix (seeds)
DESCRIPTION:
Small parrot of exceptional beauty; plunge is mainly yellow and orange with green and blue accenting the wings.
FACTS:
Generally travel in small flocks. When a favorite fruit tree is ripening, huge nembers of noisy conures will congregate to feast.
Swift and direct flight
Noisy birds; make a shrill, disyllabic (two syllable) screech repeated a number of times in rapid succession.
YOUNG:
During breeding season, beginning in February or March, the flock breaks up into pairs. Sun conures evacuate holes in the trunks of trees or take advantage of abandoned woodpecker nests.
2-3 unmarked white eggs are laid; incubation period of about 25 days.
Breed fairly easily in captivity
STATUS:
CITES App. II; heavily collected for pet trade
REFERENCES:
"Parrots of the World", Improved 1978 edition, Joseph M. Forshaw
"World of Wildlife: Animals of South America", Orbis Publishing
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