ADW: Aratinga Solstitialis: INFORMATION - Animal Diversity Web

Physical Description

Sun conures are considered to be “the most beautiful of neotropical parrots”. Adults are typically 30 cm in length and weigh between 100 and 123 g. The wings measure 146 to 162 mm in length and the bill grows to somewhere between 19 and 25 mm. They have medium-sized bodies and long, pointed tails. In coloration, these birds are bright yellow with red markings on the sides of their head and a red-orange tinge on their forehead, lower abdomen, rump, and lower back. The under tail-coverts are green and yellow with similar coloration on the mantle, lesser and median upper and under wing-coverts. The secondary coverts are green with the outer webs of primary coverts being blue. The primary and secondary feathers are green with the primaries becoming blue near the tips. The upper-side of the tail is olive and tipped with blue while the underside of the tail and the flight feathers are olive-grey. Their irises are dark brown with a naked, white eye ring surrounding both eyes. The bill and legs are both dark in coloration, a shade somewhere between grey and black. Older birds may have more of a flesh tone to their feet.

Immature birds are duller in color with more green feathers on the head, throat and body. They may have some poorly defined orange-red on their rump, lower back, breast and abdomen and have lighter bills. The adult feathers develop quite late in these birds, juveniles usually do not attain full coloration until 18 months to two years of age. Some birds in captivity even leave the nest with green backs.

Females and males are very similar and are difficult to tell apart based solely on appearance. However, females tend to have shorter tails, measuring 121 to 146 mm compared to the 131 to 146 mm of males. The colors are sometimes brighter in males, especially around the face and abdomen, though this is not always the case because sun conures show wide color variation from bird to bird. Other anatomical differences can be used to help determine the sex of the bird, but none are completely reliable. The hen’s head, for example, is rounder and smaller than the male’s, which tends to be more square and flat. Males have longer, more rectangular heads when viewed from above whereas the female’s skull appears almost triangular, with the beak forming the apex. In general, male birds appear stronger and more massively built, looking more parrot-like than the slender, narrower females. Hens are proportionately lighter and have smaller beaks. They should also have a larger distance between pelvic bones than males, though this is usually only true after reaching sexual maturity or right before laying eggs.

Sun conures are similar in appearance to the closely related species A. jandaya , A. weddelli and A. auricapilla . While they are all separate species, many have recognized them as forming a “super-species” because of their similarities and the fact that they have been known to hybridize in captivity. This hybridization has never been confirmed in nature, however, likely because their habitats do not overlap. Compared to these closely related species, A. solstitialis is lighter in weight, more colorful and has light yellow down instead of white at the time of hatching.

Evidence suggests that dietary factors may affect the coloration of these birds as those in captivity are standard in coloration, but wild birds differ slightly depending on where they live.

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike
• male larger

Range mass 100 to 123 g 3.52 to 4.33 oz Range length 121 to 146 cm 47.64 to 57.48 in Average length 30 cm 11.81 in Range wingspan 146 to 162 mm 5.75 to 6.38 in