What is a Conure?

[Michael]

What is a Conure anyway? This is one of those categorizations that makes no sense at all. I like categorizations like Lovebirds and Amazons because they refer to the common genus and members. Even the terms parakeet and parrotlet make sense (despite spanning multiple unrelated genera they are unified by common features). But what in the world is a Conure?

Seriously, I wonder if someone can come up with a single definition that unifies all Conures. I don't even think they span the same habitat, region, or sport similar enough physical characteristics to merit such a classification. Macaws, despite spanning multiple genera all look to some extent similar. But Conures? Many of the non-typical ones we see in stores look nothing alike to other Conures neither in shape nor in color. So could someone please explain to me what these two possibly have in common that they are both called Conures?





There is no scale of reference here but believe me they are not remotely close in size, shape, or color.

[miajag]

I agree with you about "conure" as it seems to be a loosely defined term basically meaning "some, but not all, South American parakeets." That said, as it's the commonly used term in aviculture I'm not going to stop using it any time soon.

I'm not sure about the macaw comparison though. A Hahn's Macaw and a Hyacinth are just as different in size, shape and color as Nanday and Green-Cheeked conures, or any other two conure species I can think of.

[bmsweb]

Its funny you bring this up Michael, because my wife was asking the same thing!

I googled and this is all I could come up with!

Conures are a diverse, loosely-defined group of small to medium-sized parrots. They belong to several genera within a long-tailed group of the New World Parrot subfamily Arinae. The term "conure" is used primarily in bird keeping, though it has appeared in some scientific journals[1]. The American Ornithologists' Union uses the generic term "parakeet" for all species termed conure elsewhere, although Joseph Forshaw, a prominent Australian ornithologist, uses the term "conure".[2]

[Michael]

Believe me, I know what the "formal" definition is, however, I bring this up for discussion and would like to see if there is any reason behind the term? At first Conure made sense to me when I'd look at a Sun Conure and a Jenday Conure for instance or a Blue Crowned and Cherry Headed.... but then as I've discovered more of them, the definition started to fade and I no longer know what makes a Conure.

As for Hahn's Macaw vs. Hyacinth, while there is an enormous difference in size/color I think the overall shape remains the same. There is an easily identifiable "macaw" look that is common to all macaws:

[PRD]

Conure is as said a loosely defined group of several sorts of parrots. The term doesnt make sense if u compare it with macaws or amazons.
The conures u talk about, sun, jenday, blue crowned and cherry do make sense, cause they are Aratinga's. In dutch there aint a translation for the word conure. Its either a pyrrhura(GCC) or a Aratinga(or other species in this group).
Aratinga means little macaw, and they have alot in common.
http://theaviary.com/s1295-09.shtml
In general u will find aratinga's where u find macaws. These sorts are the most related to eachother in nature, therefore they share so much similarity's. Ive read on several occasions that macaw breeders use sun conures as hatchparents.
U have to see the sorts apart from eachother and not as the term conure. There aint a term that would cover all these species. I prefer the term aratinga, cause they are little macaws and u know what u are talking about.

The 2 pictures in your first post: both are different species/sort/type of parrot. In english defined as conures. They share their roots (south america) and differ from other parrots cause of their long tails. Some people will categorize parrots with long tail as parakeets, even macaws.

[pchela]

[from New Latin conurus, from Greek kōnos cone + oura tail]

Looks like it just means long tail or cone shaped tail? Doesn't the long tail define a parakeet as well? Found this - Parakeet- any of numerous small slender long-tailed parrots.

So... I think by these definitions the Pyrrhura Conures could be considered Parakeets as they are slender with long tails. I guess who ever named these two groups did not get together and discuss things beforehand. What else do the conure groups have in common that they wouldn't have in common with parakeets?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Well, these guys were considered similar enough to one another that at one point they did apparently share a genus, although it was recognized that they weren't as closely related as first thought and were reclassified. I guess I don't understand why the English naming scheme really matters all that much. If we want to be unambiguous, we can always use the full Latin name or refer to "Aratinga conures" and "Pyrrhura conures" etc. if we want to narrow it down. The taxonomic classification of birds which are called conure is fairly well defined I believe.

Parakeet is an equally generic term, really, applying to an even larger grab bag of birds. It further has the disadvantage of being misunderstood by the general public to refer to budgies. And the public picture of a pet store parakeet isn't entirely flattering to be honest (we can have a separate discussion about how unfair this is to budgies) I'd rather tell my non-bird friends I have a green cheeked conure rather than a green cheeked parakeet because the conversation won't start off with my friend mis-picturing what the bird were are discussing is. If they don't know, they will ask. So I think it is a useful term in an empirical way -- if it weren't it likely would have fallen out of usage already.

Since the experts still seem to be somewhat divided as to the English usage, since people who know about birds pretty much have an idea of which birds are named "conure" and because the accurate taxonomic name remains completely definitive -- why is this a big deal anyway?

[PRD]

Found this - Parakeet- any of numerous small slender long-tailed parrots.

If i look at a hahn macaw and aratinga's then a hahn macaw would also be a parakeet according to this definition as there are aratinga's larger then hahn macaws. The hahn macaw is only approx. 30 cm, the same as a sun conure. Aratinga guarouba and mitrata are approx. 34-38 cm. The only visible obvious feature i see aratinga's have different then macaws is the white area around the eyes. On macaws this will run till the beak as with aratinga's it remains around the eye.

I find the various definitions of different parrots a bit confusing.
All birds of the order Psittaciformes are parrots, and that definition i what i use. Looking at the 3 subcategories in this order, Strigopidae, Psittacidae and the Cacatuidae, the term parakeet doesnt make sense either. I read and hear quite often people suggesting parakeets are not parrots.
If people ask me what kind of birds i have i always use the term parrots.

[caneschica]

Michael,
Actually, I don't think all Macaws look similar in nature, despite size differences, etc. For example, take a look at the Spix's Macaw. It is considered to be possibly extinct in the wild, but due to breeding programs, etc. it's still being kept around.

But anyways, that's just my 2 cents, lol

[Giantmoa]

to me the term makes sense. they look similiar with the eye-ring, long tail, and similiar shaped beaks and even the bodies are the same build for the most part. there are two main groups, the pyrrhura (it means red tail I think?) and aratinga (I've read that is the tupi indian name for parrot or something, not sure how accurate that is). the nanday ( nandayus nenday ) and the patagonian (cyanoliseus patagonus ) conures are actually not part of either but still considered conures. they are native to central and south america.
okay, I realise that a lot of that info has already been said =) but I spot a whole lot of similiarities in there, no?

There is no scale of reference here but believe me they are not remotely close in size, shape, or color.

color-wise, that green cheek conure is a mutation and would not normally occur in the wild (just saying )... the size difference is also seen in macaws as you know and maybe its just me but conures have a unified shape and "conure" look to them just as macaws do... maybe I'm just biased...