Sunday, December 18, 2005

Last Wednesday evening (12/14) we fell in love with a Sun conure, and Thursday evening we went back and took her home with us. The storekeepers had named her Soleil (so-lay, according to at least one pronunciation resource), which is the French word for sun, and that name seems appropriate to the bird.

Over the weekend I picked up a book on conures, and this is what it says about Sun conures in specific:

These flashy little birds have been described as the Cadillacs of the conure group. A mature Sun conure is a brilliant blaze of orange, yellow, red and green feathers, while younger Sun conures have a mottled green plumage until their first molts. Mature Suns have black beaks, white eye rings and grayish feet. They measure about 12 inches in length and weigh about 4.5 ounces.

Suns are found in the wild from Guyana to northeastern Brazil, but they have been captive bred in the United States for many years. As pets, they are known for being content to be with their owners for hours at a time, sitting on a shoulder or the back of a chair. They can be noisy if ignored, but otherwise make fine pets.

The conures in the store grabbed our attention by hanging, dangling by one toe, from the top bars of their cages. Soleil went on to demonstrate the conure's characteristic rolling gait, and then rolled over onto her back repeatedly.

posted by Daniel @ 6:12 PM 0 comments