Maroon-tailed Conures or Maroon-tailed Parakeets
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The Maroon-tailed Conure, also known as the Maroon-tailed Parakeet (Pyrrhura melanura), is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes.
This Maroon-tailed Conure is common in the pet market.
Identified Sub-species / Races Including Nominate:
- Maroon-tailed Conure - Pyrrhura melanura melanura / P. m. melanura (Spix, 1824) - Nominate Species
- Souancé's Black-tailed Conures - Pyrrhura melanura souancei / P. m. souancei (Verreaux, 1858)
- Berlepsch's Conures - Pyrrhura melanura berlepschi / P. m. berlepschi (Salvadori, 1891)
- Pacific Black-tailed Conures - Pyrrhura melanura pacifica / P. m. pacifica (Chapman, 1915)
- Chapman's Conures - Pyrrhura melanura chapmani / P. m. chapmani (Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1940)
Description:
The Maroon-tailed Conure averages 9.5 ins (24 cm) in length with a wing of 4.9 - 5.3 ins (125 - 135 mm).
Its general plumage is green with small reddish-brown small stripes above the bill. The remainder of the forehead, crown, back of head and nape is dark brown; each feather is edged with green. The sides of the neck, throat and upper breast are green - each feather being edged with greyish-dull yellow. The primary-coverts are red, each feather with pale-yellow tip. The outer webs of the blue primaries (longest wing feathers) have a narrow green edging. The tail upper is reddish-brown with green base; and the underside of the tail is blackish-grey. They have white eye-rings, dark-brown irises. Their feet and the bill are grey.
Immatures look as adults, but their primary-coverts are partly green, and the edging on the breast is smaller.
Personality / Pet Potential:
Maroon-tailed Conures share the sweet personality of its relatives, the Green-cheeked Conures and Maroon-bellied Conures. They are bold, independent, yet very affectionate. The Maroon-bellied Conures are intelligent, friendly and active. They adapt easily to human contact and are easily trained.
Like most parrots, they also like dunking their food into their drinking water -- creating a messy soup requiring the water to be changed frequently. A water bottle may be a good choice, if you are not able to change the water several times a day.
They enjoy bathing and even showering with their owners. However, bathing water needs to be provided daily.
- Click here for information on the benefits of bathing and recommendations.
Maroon-bellied conure love to eat fruits and vegetables, which should be provided to them daily in addition to a quality seed mix. More on bird diet.
Talking Ability:
Maroon-bellied Conures are not amongst the best talkers. The majority of them may learn a few things, but there is no guarantee that they will ever learn to talk. They also have soft and gravelly voices, so even if they try to talk, they may not say anything understandable! But there are also a few green cheeks who talk a lot. They are smart little birds, and if you talk to them in context they often learn to speak in context (i.e. "good night" at night, "bye bye" when you leave for work in the morning, "hello" when they greet you). Despite their reputation for not being the "best talkers" some talented maroon-tailed conures do exist.
They are cuddly birds:
It is said that they are second only to the cockatoos in terms of cuddliness. They like to be held (although some like it more than others) and can learn tricks such as lying on their backs and "kissing." However, individual differences do exist, as some green conures will accept cuddling only on their terms. But these are the exception to the rule. Most seem to thoroughly enjoy cuddling whenever their favorite human is available.
They are all play
Like all conures, Maroon-tailed Conures love to play! They are very active parrots that like to play, explore and chew. Lots of toys are recommended to keep their beaks from "getting busy" on your furniture. Toys can be store-bought or home-made, and they can also be things that I bet you never thought were toys at all! Owners report that they are smart and interactive but are also more prone to behavioral problems than are cockatiels or budgies.
The are smart!
Most will hold their own with any of the mid-sized or medium-large parrots in terms of smartness. They are also, like most parrots, very smart and can be taught simple tricks pretty easily and more complicated tricks with some work.
How much attention do they need?
Like all parrots, the green cheeks are social birds. They do require daily interaction with their social group, entertainment, things to do -- or else they will become bored and develop behavioral problems. In the wild, they would never leave the company of their flockmates. In a captive pet situation, a hand-fed conure requires the same social interaction from you and your family.
If you have little time to give, a parrot would not be a good choice for you. You would need someone at home several hours a day at a minimum, preferably someone should be home most of the day. I would recommend that there be people at home, with the bird, for at least several hours every day or the majority of day.
It's best to keep your pet conure where the center of activity is, usually the family room, and leave the cage door open or allow your pet to be on a playpen whenever someone is at home. During this time some direct interaction should be provided, such as talking to your pet, petting it, or placing it on your shoulder while you surf the internet, watch tv or go about your other activities. My parrot even joins me in the gym!
Do they make good family pets?
In general, conures make good family pets as long as they have been well socialized. They don't mind a lot of activity - in fact, the more "fun stuff" is going on, the more entertained and happier they tend to be. They usually get along well with all family members, although they are likely to eventually choose a favorite; but as long as they are exposed to, and socialized by, other family members, they should maintain their friendliness with the others. Conures love to be touched and handled - another reason why they often do well with kids.
However, they go through nippy phases that can be hard on children as well as on adults. Teaching the child appropriate handling of the conure will help prevent some painful experiences - however, it will never entirely eliminate them. The tamest pet bird gets startled and bites - without this being a true reflection on its personality. It's a natural reaction. Experienced pet owners learn to read the body language of their pets and can avoid most of these "accidental encounters." Training is important to prevent an accidental bite from turning into a behavioral problem.
It is difficult to instruct smaller children on proper parrot handling, and their interactions with the conure should always be supervised. But children who have learned to handle the conure gently and confidently usually don't have a big problem with aggression. How well the child-parrot interaction goes really depends on the maturity level of the child, as well as the proper socialization-level of the parrot. Admittedly though, some genetics come into play as well. Some individual parrots are more aggressive than others. Often this is a family trait and one parrot pair produces sweet babies, while others produce nippy offspring. Sweet babies can turn nippy, if not socialized well, and nippy (usually nervous / fearful birds) can be taught to be good family pets. Birds do pick up on stress and anger that we humans may feel and this can impact their personality and likelihood to be aggressive towards us. It is always best to approach a bird calmly and focus on, and enjoy, the interaction with the parrot rather than reflecting on problems in your life. Doing so will actually be conducive to your own health, as it will help you relax.
There never will be a guarantee that a meaningful relationship between the children in the family and the pet parrot develops and if things don't go well, the conure may end up being a pet for the adults only. For this reason, it is not recommended to buy a parrot as a pet for the kids - this needs to be a family pet, with the adults taking on most of the responsibility.
Training and Behavioral Guidance:
Conures, albeit their smaller size, do present their challenges, and they are not the best "starter" birds, although some species (including the maroon-tailed conure featured on this page) are easier to keep than others. It really is important to learn to understand them and to guide their behavior before an undesirable behavior has been established.
Maroon-tailed Conures can be noisy (although less so than other conures). They can be prone to biting, particularly when young, but an owner can cure this behavior with patience and time. Behavioral issues can be avoided or minimized with proper handling and socialization.
Even a young bird that has not been neglected and abused requires proper guidance; this becomes even more challenging when it involves a rescued bird that may require rehabilitation. Behavioral challenges that conures present include:
- Excessive Chewing: Any parrot will chew. In nature, they use their beak to "customize" their favorite tree, to enlarge the size of their nest in a tree hollow. Doing this keeps their beaks in good condition. The problem is excessive and undesirable chewing. Undisciplined conures will chew on electric wiring potentially causing house fires. The owner needs to provide plenty of "healthy" chewing opportunities (bird toys, natural wood branches, etc.) and training is necessary to teach your pet what is "off-limits."
- Biting: Conures can become nippy. Like most parrots they are likely to discover their beaks as a method of "disciplining us" once they are out of the "baby stage." This being said, some maroon-tailed conures never bite a person in their lives; and most of them bite rarely, but may do so during certain periods in their lives or under certain circumstances. However, there are a few maroon-tailed conures that are very aggressive and will bite quite a lot. It depends on the individual, and also a great deal on how that conure was raised and socialized. Nippiness and biting are probably the most common behavioral complaint from conure owners. It really is important to learn to understand them and to guide their behavior before undesirable habits have been established.
- The "Noise" Factor: Along with other Pyrrhura conures, they are only moderately loud, therefore making acceptable pets for apartment dwellers for the most part. However, these conures can still be noisy enough to potentially upset the neighbors of apartment dwellers or annoy those that are sensitive to noise. Like other conures, they tend to express excitement with a series of loud, shrill screams.
Training and behavioral guidance will help your pet be the kind of companion you want it to be ...
- AvianWeb Resources: I put together web resources for you to help you understand your pet bird and properly direct him. Please visit this website for valuable tips on parrot behavior and training. If you found a way to resolve a "parrot behavioral issue" please share it with others.
- If you are, as I am, a visual learner and prefer step-by-step instructions to train your pet, I recommend:
- the Parrot Training Course to teach your parrot to:
- Stop Biting
- Perform Tricks &
- Tame ANY SIZE bird you could possibly own
- and/or try the "Teach Your Parrot to Talk" Training Course.
- the Parrot Training Course to teach your parrot to:
If you are considering a conure as a pet, the following web resources might be of interest:
- Procuring your Parrot
- Breeders:
- Click here for a listing of breeders by state / country. Do you breed this species and would like to be listed? Click here to see your options.
- Housing & Caring for Your Conure: Conures love to climb and play and need to be provided with a cage that allows them to move around freely and toys to entertain themselves with. Please refer to the following websites for information:
Genus: Scientific: Pyrrhura ... English: Red-tailed Conures ... Dutch: Roodstaartparkieten ... German: Rotschwanzsittiche ... French: Perruche à queue rouge
Species: Scientific: Pyrrhura melanura melanura ... English: Maroon-tailed Conure, Black-tailed Conure ... Dutch: Zwartstaartparkiet ... German: Schwarzschwanzsittich ... French: Perruche queue marron ... CITES II - Endangered
Sub-Species / Races Including Nominate:
- Pyrrhura melanura melanura (Spix, 1824) - nominate species
- Pyrrhura melanura souancei (Verreaux, 1858)
- Pyrrhura melanura berlepschi (Salvadori, 1891)
- Pacific Conure, Pyrrhura melanura pacifica (Chapman, 1915)
- Pyrrhura melanura chapmani (Bond & Meyer de Schauensee, 1940)
Distribution: North-eastern Peru, Extreme Eastern and Southern Columbia, North-western Amazonas, Brazil, Southernmost Venezuela, Central Bolivar
Related Websites: Lexicon of Parrots
Maroon-tailed Sub-species Index
Photo, Video and/or Article contributions are welcome! Please click here for info
The Avianweb strives to maintain accurate and up-to-date information; however, mistakes do happen. If you would like to correct or update any of the information, please send us an e-mail. THANK YOU!
