Painted Conure
Pyrrhura picta
The painted conure is a small Pyrrhura parakeet from Venezuela, the Guianas and Brazil. Checklists call it the painted parakeet, Pyrrhura picta. Recent world checklists split the old painted conure group into several species, so the name now covers only birds from southern and eastern Venezuela through the Guianas to northern Brazil. Some of the split-off forms are threatened, including the Critically Endangered Subandean parakeet and the Endangered Perija parakeet. It is about 22 cm long and weighs 54 to 70 g, with a brown crown washed blue at the front, a red-brown face, pale ear patches, a pale-scalloped brown breast and a red bend of the wing.
In the wild it travels in flocks of 10 to 15 and prefers the interior of humid forest. It is uncommon in aviculture. Like most parrots it is on CITES Appendix II, and importing Pyrrhura parakeets into the US needs a Wild Bird Conservation Act permit, so ask any seller for breeding and origin records. The World Parrot Trust suggests a flight at least 2 m long, a diet of fruit, vegetables, greens and small seed, and water for bathing, and gives captive longevity as 13 to 15 years.
