Sun Parakeet

The sun parakeet, also referred to as the sun conure, has a sunny and playful disposition matching the golden orange hues of its striking plumage.

Highly sociable, this bird lives in groups of up to 30 individuals. The flock goes where the food is, commuting regularly to distant fruiting or flowering trees. When perching or flying, they produce loud screeching calls.

Watch out for the joyous flight of our sun parakeets at the beam-free Crimson Wetlands!

Once existing in immense flocks, the species is today scarce or absent in many parts of its former range due to illegal trapping to feed high
demand in the pet trade. The bird responds to baits, making it easy to capture all members of a flock in a given area.

Young and adults are also poached from nest holes. Ongoing habitat loss from the burning or logging of forests for conversion into pastures further contributes to the bird’s drastic decline. 

Studies found that the sun parakeet’s numbers were much smaller than thought, at most 2,499 mature individuals, prompting its reclassification as Endangered.

Thanks to the work of conservationists, trapping pressure is easing in its stronghold of Guyana, with this local population rebounding from nearly zero to 260 mature individuals.

The sun parakeet forms monogamous pairs and nests in tree cavities where three to four eggs are laid. The female incubates the eggs alone and the nestlings take eight weeks to fledge.

In aviculture, this bird is commonly bred where it can become polygamous or hybridise with the closely-related sulphur-breasted parakeet. One proposed conservation measure is to establish pure-bred lines for future reintroductions to the wild.