Cactus Conure

Wild Cactus Conure
© Corey Raffel

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

With Cactus Conures, as well as many other parrot species, both the male and female incubate their eggs.

Academic Research

Related publications: Eupsittula cactorum

Species Profile

Genus: Eupsittula | Species: cactorum

Size:

25cm (9.75 in)

Weight:

75-90g (2.6-3.1 oz)

Subspecies including nominate:

two: E.c.cactorum, E.c. caixana

Colour Adult:

E.c. cactorum: Both adults in general yellow/green; pale brown crown; brown face and upper breast; orange/yellow lower breast and abdomen; green tail tipped with blue. Bill horn coloured. Eye ring bare and white. Eye orange.
E.c. caixana: Both adults as in cactorum, but paler green body colour; buff/brown throat and breast; abdomen in centre less orange and more yellow.

Colour Juvenile:

Green crown, brown tinge minimal or absent; olive breast and abdomen, with orange tips to some feathers. Eye brown.

Call:

Calls made in flight are strident notes, repeated in short bursts between pauses. Softer notes when feeding.

Video Links:

More Information:

Avibase

Content Sources:

Wild Cactus Conure
© Corey Raffel

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

With Cactus Conures, as well as many other parrot species, both the male and female incubate their eggs.

Academic Research

Related publications: Eupsittula cactorum

Species Care

Captive Status:

Rare in captivity.

Longevity:

Up to 35 yrs

Housing:

Aviary or suspended enclosure, minimum length 2m (6.5 ft).

Diet:

Fruit such as: apple, pear, banana, orange, cactus fruits, pomegranate, forming about 30 percent of the diet; vegetables such as: carrots, celery, green beans and peas in the pod; green leaves such as: Swiss chard, lettuce, sowthistle, dandelion, chickweed; spray millet; small seed mix such as: canary, millet, and smaller amounts of oats, buckwheat and a little hemp; soaked and sprouted sunflower seed; cooked beans and pulses, boiled maize, and complete pellet.

Enrichment:

Enjoys bathing, so provide overhead misters or shallow bowls of water. Is also a vigorous chewer, so provide bird-safe, unsprayed branches of flowering trees, fir, pine and willow, heat sterilized pine cones, wooden toys, vegetable tanned leather toys, ladders, swings and noise-makers.

Nest Box Size:

Vertical box 8" x 8" x 14" (20.3cm x 20.3cm x 35.5cm).

Clutch Size:

4-6

Incubation Time:

25 days

Fledging Age:

7 weeks

Hatch Weight:

Not recorded.

Peak Weight:

Not recorded.

Weaning Weight:

Not recorded.

Wild Cactus Conure
© Corey Raffel

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

With Cactus Conures, as well as many other parrot species, both the male and female incubate their eggs.

Academic Research

Related publications: Eupsittula cactorum

Species Wild Status

World Population:

Unknown, stable.

IUCN Red List Status:

Least Concern

CITES Listing:

Appendix II

Threat Summary:

This species is sometimes trapped for the bird trade and locally persecuted because of crop-raiding. The caatinga where they live is poorly protected (0·1% of original area inside reserves) and being steadily degraded, which may pose a long term threat.

Range:

E.c. cactorum: Confined to Bahia, south of Rio Sao Francisco, and nearby NE Minas Gerais.
E.c. caixana: West and north of Rio Sao Francisco, in NW Bahia and W Pernambuco north to Ceara, Piaui and SE Maranhao.

Habitat:

Found up to 600m (1968 ft) in caatinga scrubland dominated by low thorny shrubs and small trees; also found in open semidesert country including overgrazed pastures.

Wild Diet:

Feeds on seeds, Bauhinia flowers, fruits including figs, cactus including Cereus jamacaru, berries, nuts, flowers and buds, and sometimes crops.

Ecology and Behaviour:

Seen in pairs or flocks of up to 20 individuals outside of breeding season. More gather together in groups where food is abundant.

Clutch and Egg Size:

4-6 broadly elliptical eggs, 25.5 x 19.5mm (1.0 x 0.76 in)

Breeding Season:

January-March. Nest is in arboreal termitarium.

Wild Cactus Conure
© Corey Raffel

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

With Cactus Conures, as well as many other parrot species, both the male and female incubate their eggs.

Academic Research

Related publications: Eupsittula cactorum

Members Only Resources

Please log-in now to find more research, resources and tools.

Not a Member?

Find more great information:

Gain exclusive access to 600+ pages of additional research, seminars and podcasts, specialists to ask your toughest questions, and dozens of other fun resources - when you become a WPT member.
Join Today >>

Already a Member?

Login Now >>