Sun Conure

Looks how to spot one

Feathered; medium-small parrot with a long pointed tail

A compact, long-tailed conure dressed mostly in vivid golden yellow. The face and belly glow orange, with reddish tones around the ears, while the flight feathers and tail tips are green shading to blue. The bill is black, the legs grey, and a bare pale ring surrounds each dark eye. Males and females look almost identical. Youngsters start out largely green, much like a jandaya, and reach their full sunset colouring at around two years old.1235

Personality what they are like

Sun conures are outgoing, comic little parrots that thrive on company. Hand-raised birds tend to be cuddly and devoted, learn tricks readily and often enjoy music, sometimes bobbing or singing along. They are a vocal species with a shrill contact call they use a lot, especially when they feel alone. Most learn only a handful of words, so they suit owners who enjoy a lively, chatty companion rather than a quiet one.51

Daily activity how busy a day looks

High. Wild flocks cover many kilometres a day in fast, direct flight. At home a sun conure needs daily time out of the cage to fly or climb, plus plenty of toys, foraging puzzles and safe items to shred.135

Grooming and care the hands-on bits

Keep a steady supply of safe chew toys, since conures have busy beaks. Offer regular chances to bathe or be misted, and have nails checked as part of routine avian vet visits. Expect some noise every day and plan for a long-term commitment of 15 years or more.5

Home where they are happiest

A roomy, sturdy parrot cage with several natural wood perches of different thicknesses, rotating toys and foraging items, placed in a busy family room. Aviary birds need a flight of at least 2-3 m. Daily supervised out-of-cage play is important.256

Food basics what goes in the bowl

In the wild they eat fruit, berries, flowers, buds, nuts, seeds, legume pods and some insects. Pet birds do well on a balanced pelleted or other manufactured parrot diet as the base, topped up daily with a wide range of fresh vegetables and fruit.1235

Company who they like around

Very social. In the wild they travel in flocks of about 3-30 birds and form monogamous pairs. A pet needs lots of daily interaction and does not like being left alone for long; they can share space platonically with other Aratinga conures, but mixed-species breeding is not advised.135

The story where it all began

Linnaeus described the sun conure in 1758 under the name Psittacus solstitialis, a Latin nod to the summer sun that matches its golden feathers. It was later placed in the genus Aratinga, where it sits at the centre of a small group of closely related yellow-and-orange parakeets: the jandaya, golden-capped and sulphur-breasted parakeets were all once counted as its subspecies, and the sulphur-breasted form only gained wide recognition as a separate species in 2005. Its bright colours and lively character made it a favourite in the international pet trade, and large numbers were exported from Guyana; over 20,000 went to Singapore alone in 2005-2006. Import bans on wild birds by the United States (1992), Australia (1995) and the European Union (2005) shifted the pet supply towards captive breeding, and today far more sun conures live in homes and aviaries than in the wild. The species was uplisted to Endangered, and a small population in Guyana has shown signs of recovery.12

Recognised by the official bits

IUCN Red List

Endangered, uplisted after a very rapid fall in numbers over three decades.2

CITES

Listed on Appendix II.2

Taxonomy

Named Psittacus solstitialis by Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, later moved to Aratinga. Monotypic, but it heads the Aratinga solstitialis complex together with the jandaya, golden-capped and sulphur-breasted parakeets, which were once treated as its subspecies.1

How many Fewer than 2,500 wild individuals (World Parrot Trust gives 1,000-2,499 mature individuals, decreasing).12