Welcome to another round of NAME THAT BIRD! Can anyone beat Chlidonias??? These are probably reasonably easy to ID, and I should be able to work them out... but I can\'t. Photo taken at The Parrot Place, January 2010. Its a private bird collection, which focuses on parrots, hence the name. Has a few finches and quails as well. Quite nice, in the subtropical north of New Zealand, and they have several friendly birds to interact with too, including a Scarlet Macaw (Elmo) which climbs all over people.
Thanks Chlidonias, not a species I have ever seen before. Conures, with the exception of the abundant Sun Conures, seem to be a rarity in NZ zoos.
the only conures I know of in NZ aviculture are as follows, with some very subjective status notes: *Golden conure -- very very rare, probably less than five individuals (if there's even still any around) *Sun conure -- very common *Jandaya conure -- reasonably common *Peach-fronted conure -- uncommon *Blue-crowned conure -- very uncommon *Nanday conure -- common *Monk (quaker) parrot -- very common *Maroon-bellied conure -- common *Green-cheeked conure -- not as common as maroon-bellied ....and then there's the so-called "Sunday conure" which you see advertised every so often. Its a hybrid between the sun and the jandaya, hence the name. As you say, only the sun conure seems to be shown in the main zoos. I don't know why the Pyrrhura species (the maroon-bellied and green-cheeked) aren't in zoos more. They breed prolifically with large clutches, and they are small, relatively quiet and non-destructive. The quaker is another conure that really should be displayed more because they nest colonially and unlike other parrots build very large stick nests which would make a very interesting exhibit.
I am actually surprised that these arent as common as maroon bellied conures. I would got as far to say that green cheeks are more common. My local pet shop (which is actually a pretty big shop that also sells macaws) has hand raised ones for sale and I am still considering buying one.
over here you see maroon-bellies for sale in pet shops relatively often (relative being in terms of conure availability, not general parrot availability) but rarely green-cheeks. They do seem to be reasonably common as aviary birds, just less so than the maroon-bellies which have become very common, but I don't really know why that should be.
It is pretty much the opposite over here. I have never seen a maroon-bellied being sold in a pet shop but tonnes of pet shops sell green cheeks and variants of them (cinnamon and others).
I was just googling prices and I can't believe how cheap conures are over in Australia! Even your rare mutations are often cheaper than our wild-type birds. A pair of peach-fronted conures here is roughly NZ$700 (c. $300 for a single male). Maroon-bellies and green-cheeks are normally between NZ$300 and 400 a pair (around $150 upwards for a single bird). In contrast Google found me a number of pet green-cheeks in Australia for as little as AUS$40 each.
Wow, I have never seen that price before. If that were the price I would have a flock of them. Last time I saw some for sale they were a couple of hundred bucks.
That $40 bird would most likely either be a breeder or untamed/aviary bird. Hand-raised ones usually go for at least $150 but cinnamons might get up to $400 in the more expensive stores.