hello,
I need help identifying some conures I saw while in Nicaragua. I tried to post this question to the aske the experts page but I could never get the link to work.
These four parrots were presented to me for possible purchase on a Nicaraguan roadside. we befriended the seller and pretended interest in the birds despite our distate for the wild caught bird trade becuase as a lifelong amatuer student of parrots, I had never seen any quite like these. They are very similar to what is known as a half moon conure, Aratinga canicularis, which is native to the pacific region of Nicaragua we were visiting.
In all the references I can find, half moons are described as having DULL periopthamalic rings. The eye rings of these birds are VERY BRIGHT yellow. In addition, almost the entire bodies of these birds were bright yellow, while half moons are generally described as having dull green with some yellow on the breast. Alle the subspecies listed by Foreshaw have LESS yellow, not more.
We asked around locally and learned that there had been some cases of poachers PAINTING birsd to make them seem desireable. Could these poor birds be victims of that? I handled these birds several times and they sure didnt seem like painted. I have nine parrots at home so I am familiar with feather texture. But we were not able to learn anything about bird painting or the kind of paint, quailty of paint job etc.
Could these birds be painted? Could they, less likely, be a subspecies of half moons? I would really like some help sorting this out. We kept the guys contact info so we could potentially contact him again for follow up as appropriate.
If you think you can help, please let me know asn I will send pix of the birds. This forum wont allow the file size I have them in and I cant figure out how to make the pictures have less resolution!
Thanks for your help, Nicole Sanchez
