1. Endangered Species Profile: The Sun Parakeet
By Student Name, Class Period

2. Photo Gallery A sun parakeet eating a seed
This picture shows off the brilliant plumage of a sun parakeet
A sun parakeet preening its colorful feathers

3. Species Description
The scientific name for the sun parakeet is Aratinga solstitialis. It is also known as the Sun Conure or Yellow Conure. This species has been known for quite a long time and was even mentioned by the classification scientist Linnaeus in Males and females of the species look very similar, with extremely bright plumage. They are mostly golden yellow with areas around their face and under parts being a bright orange. Their wing tips are accented with green and blue and their ear area is red. Sun parakeets also have a black, curved bill and gray legs. They are about 30 cm in length and weigh about 110 grams. Sun parakeets are very social birds and typically live in flocks that range from about 5-40 birds but 30 birds is the usual flock size. It is believed that once they find a partner they will mate for life. They typically breed in February and lay three or four eggs which the female will incubate for one month until they are ready to hatch. Once the chicks hatch, they will usually remain in the nest for about 8 weeks. Immature birds start out with mostly green feathers and usually gain full adult coloring by the time they are about 18 months old. Sun parakeets are fully mature when they reach two years old. They have a very shrill, loud squawk that they use to communicate with each other. In the wild, their shrill squawks would be used as a warning. These birds are most vocal in the morning and evenings. They are actually the loudest when they take flight—usually screeching very loudly. Many sun parakeets are breed in captivity as pets. They are known to have a lot of personality and can live from 25 to 30 years. Some captive parakeets have learned how to mimic human sounds, much like pet parrots have been trained to do. Overall, these birds have been described as intelligent, spunky, friendly and curious creatures.
A sun parakeet in the Hamilton Zoo

4. Environment Description
Sun parakeets live in a variety of different environments. They usually live in wooded areas filled with mostly deciduous trees like coastal forests and rain forests. Many rivers cross the landscape and they can also live in areas that are periodically flooded by the Amazon river. They often live in the foothills and can live up to 1,200 m in elevation. Their habitat is very humid, warm, and rainy. There is very little change in season throughout the year. The temperature can range from 32 C (90 F) down to 20 C (68 F). The average humidity is in the range of 60-70% and the typical rainfall is upwards of 200 cm each year. The weather is typically sunny with most of the rain coming in afternoon thunderstorms.
The landscape is covered with many trees and the sun parakeet typically builds its nest in the hollow of palm trees. It lives in an ecosystem that has one of the highest amounts of biodiversity in the world and so it is surrounded by many types of plants and animals. Some of the animals that share their habitat are: giant otters, jaguars, harpy eagles, and many other species of colorful birds. People use the area for growing crops like sugar and rice, raising livestock, and for logging.
Kaiteur Falls in a Guayana Rainforest
Typical sun parakeet habitat in a coastal forest

5. Sun Parakeet Range Map
The sun parakeet lives in a few countries located in the northern area of South America. They mainly live in south central Guyana and parts of northern Brazil. Other countries they live in also include the southern part of Suriname and French Guiana. Although it is unconfirmed, it is believed that a few have been sighted in parts of Southern Venezuela as well. Although the overall range has not changed much, the distribution of the parakeets has really changed in that much of the population is not located in Guyana and Brazil and very few birds are found in the other areas of their range.

6. Sun Parakeet Food Web
Sun parakeets are herbivores. They eat ripe fruit, flowers and nuts that can be found throughout the forest. They are fairly small birds and have predators like hawks and toucans. When they are in their nests their eggs and even the birds themselves, they can also be eaten by snakes, monkeys, and lizards. In the food web above, the parrots are also herbivores, the monkey and toucan are both omnivores, and the snake, lizard, harpy eagle, and jaguars are all carnivores.

7. Why it’s Endangered
The sun parakeet population has been steadily decreasing since the 1980’s. In fact, the bird was considered to be quite abundant in its natural habitat until sometime in the 1970’s. Currently, it is estimated that there are anywhere between 1,000-2,500 adult individuals. The main threat to this species is the trapping of wild birds for the pet trade. Sun parakeets are very popular pets. Although most birds that are sold as pets were actually bred in captivity, there are many wild birds that are captured each year to be put on the market. In the 1980’s 600 birds were captured in the country of Guyana alone. Between the years of and 1985, around 2,000 birds were exported to the United States. The birds have proven very easy to be captured just by using seed baits. In fact, entire flocks have been captured from areas using this method. The sun parakeet was officially listed as endangered in 2008.
Although the illegal pet trade is the number one reason why the sun parakeet is now listed on the endangered species list, habitat destruction is also contributing to their decline as a species. Much of the forests that they live in is now being converted into land that is used for growing crops and raising livestock. This deforestation will eventually eat away at their habitat until there is very little room left for the birds to live.
A caged sun parakeet

8. Possible Solutions
What is being done to save the Sun Parakeet? Currently, laws are in place that strongly regulate how this species can be traded throughout the world. Most of the regulation focuses on getting export permits from their countries of origin. There is a lot of discussion, however, about whether there should be a complete ban on international trade of the species. If this ban goes into effect, the only reason why the birds could be exported out of their native country would be for scientific research. Other actions that are being taken include programs where people work with the native inhabitants of the parakeet’s habitat to educate them about the harm of trapping wild birds and to help them protect the habitat. There are also efforts under way to locate any populations of birds that have not yet been discovered so that they can be protected as well.
I believe that the current efforts to protect the sun parakeet from capture and use in the pet trade are key to saving this species. However, I feel that more effort needs to be focused on saving the habitat that the parakeet lives in. Even if the species is protected from illegal trading, it will be very hard to save this species from extinction if they have no place to live and no natural food sources. Regulations should be put in place to keep people from clearing large areas of forest for temporary agricultural use. Many farmers deforest the area, use it for a few years and then move on. Often, after this treatment, the forest is unable to grow back and the habitat is essentially lost forever. This not only affects the sun parakeet, but all the other organisms that live in its ecosystem.
A pair of sun parakeets perched together

9. Summary
***This section has been mostly empty in order to give you the opportunity to develop your own thoughts. However, if you use the following as a pattern you should be covering all the essentials***
Biodiversity is ___________________________________. All ecosystems need biodiversity because _________________________________. Interdependence is ______________________________. Some examples of interdependence are ___________ __________________________________. Interdependence is necessary in all ecosystems because _________________________________________. Biodiversity and interdependence are connected in that ________________________________________. This is why biodiversity and interdependence are so essential in making a healthy ecosystem work.
The sun parakeet is a very important part of its ecosystem and there could be major effects if it went extinct. One reason why the sun parakeet is important to its ecosystem is because it eats the fruit from many different trees. In eating the fruit, the bird spreads the seeds and also helps the seeds to grow in new areas. Without the sun parakeet, some of the plants in their ecosystem may have a harder time reproducing. The parakeet and its eggs are also an important food source for many of the carnivores in its ecosystem. Without the sun parakeet, predators like the harpy eagle, lizards and snakes would have less food to eat. This might mean that there could be fewer predators or that the predators would start eating more of other species. In any case, the absence of the sun parakeet would definitely have a domino effect throughout the food web of its ecosystem. Finally, I believe that the sun parakeet is worth saving because it is a very unique and beautiful animal. Very few birds are as colorful as this one. It would be very sad to lose a species that truly is one of kind in this world.
A small flock of sun parakeets

10. Works Cited
BirdLife International (2012) Species factsheet: Aratinga solstitialis. Downloaded from on 27/03/2012.
Arkive (2012). Sun Parakeet. Accessed 3/27/2012.
Wikipedia (2012). Sun Parakeet. Accessed 3/27/2012.
Avian Web (2010). Sun Conures or Sun Parakeets. Accessed 3/26/2012.
Biodiversity Heritage Library Blog (2010). The Sun Parakeet and the Worlds Checklist of Birds. Accessed 3/26/2010.