The Gold-Capped, Jenday and Sun Conures
Written by Howard Voren
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Most texts show the
gold-capped, jenday and sun conures
to be three distinct species of the same genus, named Aratinga.
This arrangement shows the relationship between the three to be no different
than the relationship between the sun conure and the mitred conure. However, to the
majority of aviculturists who have worked with suns, jendays
and gold caps, it’s obvious that a much closer
relationship exists between these three conures than
just the genus name Aratinga would imply.
Gold-Capped
Conure (Aratinga auricapilla)
The gold-capped conure is a medium-sized conure
from southeastern
These birds have
proven to be reliable and prolific breeders in captivity. Indeed, we at Voren’s Aviaries have produced over 1,000 gold caps, jendays and suns over a period of 15 years. They are
usually willing to nest at any time of the year if the conditions are right,
but they will not begin a new round of nesting if the weather is too hot. They
have been known to nest up to four times per year. The number of clutches per
year is highly dependent on how long the babies are left in the nest before
being pulled for hand-raising. The usual clutch size is three, but four chicks
are not uncommon. Hand-raised babies make excellent pets, and gold caps have by
far the best pet personality of the gold cap, jenday
and sun conure group. They are especially sought
after by pet shops that have had experiences with them. This is because they
tend to maintain their tameness without handling longer than either the jenday or sun conures.
There are two
subspecies of the gold cap. The nominate race is A. auricapilla
auricapilla, which is both the more common as well as
the more colorful of the two. The much rarer subspecies, A. a. aurifrons, is easily distinguished by the fact that
the orange-red line that outlines the lower half of the eye is where the head
coloration abruptly ends. A. a. auricapilla
shows yellow to yellow-orange markings below this line and also shows heavy red
barring on the feathers of the rump. A.a.
aurifrons has either slight red barring on a few
scattered feathers or no barring at all.
Immature birds of
both subspecies can look alike. Therefore, it may be impossible to distinguish
between the two until they acquire their adult coloration. This usually happens
by the time the birds are 1 year old. Full adult coloration is not achieved
until the birds are 2 years of age. The color of the periophthalmic
ring (skin around the eye) in both subspecies ranges from medium gray to black,
depending on how much time the individual bird spends in the sun.
During the short
period of time they were imported, I had the good fortune to inspect a group of
over 800 specimens. From this group, I selected several aberrant examples.
These birds had either an unusual type of coloration or had the normal
coloration extending onto parts of the head that were normally green. I also
selected about a dozen normal-looking specimens in order to try to set up a
small captive breeding population. This group was kept as a flock for about six
months.
During this time,
they were quarantined, acclimated and surgically sexed. When I was ready to
split them up into separate breeding flights, I spent several days observing
them from a distance. If any of the birds had formed pair bonds in the six
months they were together, I didn’t want to separate them. After all, it would
be nice for those that fell in love to stay together.
I was very
surprised when my observations revealed that all of the most colorful birds had
paired with each other. I allowed them to stay together and waited to see what
their offspring would look like. Most of the babies were more colorful than
their parents. These overly colorful offspring were placed in a holding flight with
the offspring that were of normal coloration, from normally colored parents.
Again, the most colorful birds attracted the most colorful mates. In fact, what
was happening was the birds were creating a new color variety of the
gold-capped conure, as a product of their own limited
free-choice pairing. In all cases, the highly colored birds had the opportunity
to pair with normally colored birds, and in almost all cases they chose mates
that were as aberrant as themselves. This was an excellent example of how new
subspecies can be created in isolated populations.
After the third
generation of birds started making the same type of choices, I no longer felt
guilty about my desire to begin selective breeding for color. After all, there
was no reason to keep offering normally colored birds to those that were of
high coloration; since they had demonstrated through three generations that
that was not what they wanted. Now, 10 years later, we have two unique color
variations of the gold-capped
The first type has
the yellow of the top of the head extending with a speckled effect through the hindcrown up to the nape. The ear coverts are speckled with
orange-red, as are as the lower cheeks. The extent of the coloration upon
adulthood appears to be governed by sex, the most extensively colored birds
being females.
The second color
variation was due to one uniquely colored wild-caught male. He stood out like a
sore thumb from the original group of 800 birds that I observed. The normal
range of color on the top of the head goes from red-orange to yellow from the
forehead back to the crown. This specimen’s coloration went from deep red to
red-orange on the top of the head and showed red to red-orange markings on both
the ear coverts and lower cheeks. He also had a much lighter pigmentation in
the eyes. This gave the eyes an almost blue-gray appearance. We are now
producing fourth generation captive-bred birds with his coloration. We call
these our redheaded gold caps. We have now combined our two unique color
varieties together. The result is a very beautifully colored bird that has the
color variations of both of the different color types.
With the gold cap’s
propensity to seek out the most highly colored mates possible, it seems logical
to me that A. a. aurifrons did not evolve from A. a. auricapilla, but vice versa.
Recent
investigation has shown that the gold cap is quickly becoming rare throughout
its range. Their addition to CITES Appendix I has been under consideration. It
probably will not be added at this point because commercial exploitation of the
wild flocks has all but ceased.
On a positive note,
many American aviculturists with extensive collections of conures
recognized gold caps for the unique rarity that they were. During the short
period of time that they were imported, these aviculturists ignored the popular
trend of setting up more and more pairs of the more brightly colored jenday and sun conures. Instead,
they made sure that there was room in their aviaries for this relatively
unknown member of the triad. Today, these wise aviculturists have a treasure
that will never again be imported. With the broad base that this bird now
enjoys in aviaries throughout the
Jenday Conure (Aratinga jandaya)
The jenday, or jandaya, conure is similar in size to the gold-capped conure. The range of this bird is northeastern
The jenday is a bird that had the good fortune to be purchased
almost exclusively by breeders while it was being imported. They have been, on
the whole, only fair breeders but excellent parents. They can go to nest at
almost any time of the year, unless the weather is too hot. Nestlings number
two to four and make excellent pets when handraised.
Their requirements are exactly the same as for the gold-capped and sun conures.
The breeding
flights that I use are 4 feet in length and 2 feet square. All flights are
placed on galvanized pipe benches that keep them 4 feet off the ground. I use
standard, medium sized conure nest boxes. They are
plywood with a wire lining. They measure 12 inches square and 16 inches deep.
The weld wire lining is necessary to keep them from emptying the bottom of the
box of the pine shavings that I give them for nesting material.
There are no
subspecies listed for the jenday, which carries the
scientific name Aratinga jandaya.
I do, however, believe that there is sufficient evidence to suggest the
existence of a subspecies. This is due to the fact that the wild-caught jendays that were imported presented themselves in two
distinct forms.
The first form is
the one that we are all used to seeing. The points to
concentrate on when comparisons are made is the periophthalmic
ring (around the eye) and the color of the breast. The periophthalmic
ring varies from white to less-than-medium gray, depending on how much time the
birds spend in the sun. The grayish coloration is similar to a suntan in
humans. The breast color ranges from orange to orange-red, and the abdomen is
orange-red. The unnamed subspecies is a bird of much heavier pigmentation. The periophthalmic ring ranges from medium gray to black, again
depending on how much time the bird spends in the sun. The breast and abdomen
range from red-orange to red. This bird is extremely beautiful. I call it the
black-eyed jenday.
One must be very
careful when searching for specimens of this type. The problem is the sunday conure
(jenday x sun) hybrid. Although, personally, there
are some hybrids that I approve of, I think the sunday is one that should be discontinued. Whenever a
hybrid looks similar enough to either of the original parent species as to
cause possible confusion between it and a purebred specimen, it should be
placed in a situation where it can never be bred. The sunday looks almost identical to the black-eyed jenday in body coloration. Even though most of the
aviculturists that produce this hybrid sell them to be used as pet stock only,
many of these birds recirculate into breeding
collections. The pet owner may get tired of his bird and sell it to a pet shop
that does not know the history of the bird. They in turn may sell or trade the
bird to a breeder as a mature jenday. The unknowing
aviculturist pairs it with one of his jendays to
produce offspring that can be used to introduce new blood into his flock.
Unfortunately, the offspring will be 25-percent sun conure.
This is no way to increase your gene pool.
The key factor in
determining whether you have a purebred black-eyed jenday
or a sunday is the pigmentation
of the periophthalmic skin. On a sunday, the skin will be white to light gray. On a
black-eyed jenday, the skin will be medium gray to
black, depending on sun exposure. The black-eyed jenday
often is a bit redder than the sunday,
but this is too subjective a criteria to be used with accuracy. The best rule
of thumb to follow is the color of the skin around the eye. For this reason, I
chose to refer to this bird as the black-eyed jenday
instead of the red jenday. I propose the scientific
name Aratinga jandaya negra.
Field studies will
have to be done in order to determine the black-eyed jenday’s
exact range, but I can personally say that I have definitely verified their
existence in the jungles of
Sun Conure (Aratinga solstitialis)
The sun conure is definitely the most beautiful of the triad. This
bird is on the average only slightly smaller than the jenday
or gold cap. Its range is northern
At one point in
time, the sun conure was considered to be more rare
and valuable than the Queen of Bavaria conure, Aratinga guarouba (also called
the golden conure). Unheard-of prices were being
offered for pairs of these birds because they were almost nonexistent in the
Today, the demand
for sun conures is supplied completely by domestic
breeding, as is the case with both the jenday and the
gold cap. The wholesale price has risen above what imports would cost but
the buyers are now getting healthy, domestically produced stock.
The requirements for breeding and maintaining suns is exactly
the same as for the jenday and gold-capped conures. In
There are no named
subspecies of the sun conure, but there is a good
possibility that one does, indeed, exist. It is a highly pigmented version of
the typical sun conure. The periophthalmic
skin is gray to black, depending on sun exposure. Also, the reddish wash to the
yellow facial and body feathers is increased to the point that it gives the
bird a red-orange appearance. These birds are absolutely breathtaking. I know
of one aviculturist who has worked extensively with this color variety. George Scheibe of
At Voren’s Aviaries, we have a variation of the sun conure that is due to the bloodline of one wild-caught male
that I purchased about 17 years ago. Sun conures in
their immature plumage are drastically different than adults. Almost all
fledgling suns are completely green on their wings. They also have a green
suffusion from the belly that continues up through the breast to the cheeks.
Normal adult coloration appears slowly over a 2- to 3-year period. We are now
producing fledglings that have between 40 and 90 percent of their adult
coloration with their first set of feathers. Upon reaching adulthood, some of
the very yellow offspring have much more yellow on the wings than any of the
normal suns.
The status of this
bird in captivity is impressively secure. They have produced marvelously in
almost every aviary that they occupy, and their popularity has risen
dramatically. Although they have a tendency to be quite noisy–sometimes more
than the jenday and gold cap–their colorful plumage
more than makes up for this drawback. Their beautiful coloration and stable
price make them a bird that remains in high demand by both pet owners and
breeders alike.
Are These Conures Conspecific?
In Parrots of the
World, Joseph M. Forshaw states that he believes that suns, jendays
and gold caps are probably conspecific (of the same
species). This means that rather than being three separate species, they would
all be subspecies of the same species. Each would be considered the local color
variation of the same bird. I would like to examine that possibility in this
article, as well as their individual profiles. I’d like to discuss the possible
conspecificity of this group, but first let’s go over
some definitions:
A genus is a group
of different living things with common distinguishing characteristics that are
related by prehistoric genetic origin.
A species is a
group of freely interbreeding individuals that will not interbreed with other
members of the same genus in its natural environment.
Subspecies are the
local geographical variations of the same species. The variation usually
involves size and (or) coloration differences that are consistent in all
specimens from a particular region.
In order to be
classified as a subspecies rather than a separate species, the variation must
be willing to freely interbreed with other variations of the same species if
the populations were brought together in their natural environment. A subspecies
is a step toward the development of a new species. When the differences
between subspecies becomes so great that they cease to recognize one
another (in their natural habitat) as possible mates, then a new species has
been created.
In aviculture, the
gold-capped, jenday and sun conures
can be treated as identical. Their courtship behavior, nesting, calling and
movement habits are all the same–they are three color variations of the same
bird. Whether they should be scientifically classified that way is another
question.
After many years of
carefully observing their pairing behavior, it becomes apparent how these color
variations could have occurred. Before maturity and toughness has substantial
meaning in the determination of what bird wins what mate, gold caps show a
marked preference for the most extensively colored bird within their own group.
In short, among themselves, the more extensive the coloration they have, the
more beautiful they are. This preference took place with the original
wild-caught group of gold caps that we started working with at Voren’s Aviaries. Even though all birds were kept in the
same flight, the specimens of abnormally heavy coloration all picked each other
as mates. In fact, the attraction was so great between them that they were the
first to pair up and start claiming territorial limits in the flight.
Consequentially, after all the most colorful specimens paired, the birds with
normal coloration chose mates among themselves. Due to the fact that this group
of adult wild-caught birds showed similar pairing preferences to those of the
immature captive-bred specimens we later raised, I assume that the birds’
choices are made out of an appreciation of color (beauty) rather than because
the babies have been influenced by being raised domestically. The birds being
produced from the offspring of these pairings might well be considered as
intermediate in coloration between the gold cap and jenday. These birds are purebred gold caps. They are not
hybrids. In fact, I have seen examples of all the hybrids, and they look
nothing like these birds.
After conducting
these breedings, observing the pairing preferences
and seeing the results, it seems quite probable that an isolated group of gold
caps could have evolved into the jenday conure in a relatively short period of time. In fact, if
one includes the black-eyed jenday subspecies, A. jandaya negra, in the lineup, the
progression is more complete. This is due to the dark pigmentation of the periophthalmic ring, a trait that is shared by the gold
cap.
With the jenday, I have not noticed any marked preference for other jendays of extreme coloration, but then again, the jenday is not a bird that has adult plumage as variable as
either the sun or the gold cap. There are, however, domestically bred jendays showing up with some yellow flecking on the wings.
I am sure that a good number of these are due to unknown sunday blood (sunday x jenday) somewhere in their background.
I do know for a
fact that the yellow flecked jendays produced by us
are the result of inbreeding pure wild-caught jenday
stock. This yellow flecking that we see on inbred domestic stock could easily
have started the evolution of the sun conure out of
the jenday, if this same trait started showing up in
an isolated group of jendays in the wild.
The sun conure could have also evolved directly from an isolated
group of gold caps. The gold cap, as well as the sun, shows a preference for
the most extensively colored available bird as a mate. This type of selective
pairing preference can easily be responsible for the existence of the jenday and the possibly more highly inbred sun conure.
Taking this into
consideration, let’s look at the group of three from a different angle. If the
above theories are correct, and the jenday was
created by the inbreeding of overly colored gold cap specimens, and the sun was
created in a similar way, we would expect to see certain differences in the
birds that are not apparent from casual observations. We would expect to see
some differences in size, production and hardiness of the three. The fact is
that these differences do exist.
I have stated
several times in this article that the gold-capped, jenday
and sun conures are almost identical. Well, this is
true in the same way that the normal green ringnecked
parakeet is the same as its lutino mutation. The
birds are essentially the same, but the creation of an overly yellow bird
through inbreeding often results in a bird that is a bit smaller on the average
and a bit less hardy than the normal specimen.
During almost 15
years of extensive breeding of these birds, I can say without a doubt that the
gold cap as a nestling is chunkier in size, calmer in temperament, and more
disease resistant than the jenday. The same can be
said about the difference between the jenday and sun conure nestlings. This decrease in hardiness from the gold
cap to the jenday to the sun conure
is exactly what one would expect if the jenday were
created by a isolated group of inbreeding gold caps,
and, in turn, if the sun conure were created by an
isolated group of inbreeding jendays or a group of
highly inbred gold caps.
I must stress at
this point that I am not saying that the sun conure
is a skinny, nervous, disease-prone conure. In fact,
this is far from the case. But there is a constant increase in hardiness as we
pass from the sun to the jenday and back to the
gold-capped conure. This is apparent when one
reflects back on years of breeding and hand-raising results.
After making these
observations, I believe that the sun, jenday and gold
cap probably evolved in a manner similar to the one I have theorized. I believe
that they were subspecies of one another at one time. But whether they are
still subspecies of one another at present is another story.
We are short one
criterion that needs to be satisfied if we are to consider them subspecies of
one another at this time. That is the necessity that when different groups come
together, they will freely interbreed. This is not the case with the gold cap, jenday and sun triad. Mixed groups of wild caught adults
remain segregated and only pair with their own kind. True, they readily
hybridize, but this is under unnatural conditions (i.e., when the three are
hand-raised together). When adult, unpaired, wild caught specimens are housed
together, they will pair with their own kind whenever possible.
This indicates that
the triad has evolved past the point of being subspecies of one another. As
stated previously, the development of a subspecies is a step in the evolution
of a new species. When the differences become so great between subspecies that
they no longer will interbreed by choice, they can be considered separate
species within a single superspecies. This is the
classification that seems most appropriate when all current knowledge is
considered. The theorized progression from gold-capped to sun conure can easily be seen by viewing the photographs
accompanying this article.
Howard Voren is a Psittacultural
Scientist specializing in the maintenance and reproduction of Central &
South American Psittacine birds. Information about
Howard Voren can be found on his website at www.Voren.com.