Sun Conure – (Aratinga Solstialis)

The Sun Conure is one of the most colourful of the Conure family.   It is only 30cm long but its bright orange head and rump make it a parrot that is easy to identify.   The breast feathers are bright yellow.   The small primary feathers are also yellow but edged in green and the large primary feathers are blue.

The beak of the Sun Conure is charcoal and the legs are grey.   As with other parrots the immature bird has a black eye, which lightens as the bird matures.   The eye colour ends up as brown with a white surround.   The immature bird also has more green feathers and less bright orange.   The female of the species usually has more green feathers on the wings.

The diet for the Sun Conure is very similar to other parrot species.   It enjoys eating parrot mix, blossoms and nuts, fruit, green vegetables and small cereal seeds.

The Sun Conure as its name implies requires to be kept in a very warm temperature.   Ideally the temperature of its living environment should not fall below 20 degrees centigrade.

One of the vices of the Sun Conure is that it has a tendency to pluck its feathers including those of its young.   Therefore, it is necessary to keep this parrot occupied with plenty of toys in the cage.

With patience it is possible to train this bird to talk rather than make the very shrill two note screeching noise it would make in the wild.   Training your Sun Conure to talk will be most satisfying.