By Kathleen O’Keefe

My name is Whisper and I was recently adopted by a nice man, Rusty. I had a difficult time finding a permanent home, but Rusty is taking excellent care of me. I am becoming a happy and well adjusted Green-Cheek Conure.

I am very curious and am currently fully-flighted. I enjoy a lot of time sitting with Rusty or watching what is going on in the house from the top of my cage. I fly to Rusty for company and if I am feeling insecure.

I spent most of my time in foster homes and one other person wanted me to live with a Sun Conure, but neither one of us appeared to be very happy so my permanent home became a temporary one until I moved in with Rusty.

My current home is a loaner cage from The Alaska Bird Club, but Rusty is currently looking for a new cage that has more room in it for me. I am very grateful to The ABC for helping me find a wonderful permanent new home.

Rusty feeds me fresh fruits and vegetables and I can eat right out of his hand. Sometimes I can be a little nippy, but as time goes on and I adjust better to this new life I am becoming a better companion bird to my new friend.

My avian name, Conure, comes from “Conuris,” which means cone-tail. We fit into a genera between a parrot and a parakeet. Our sizes range from a little bigger that a budgie to the smallest size Macaw. We can be called the clowns of the avian world, and our friendly natures, curious traits, bright colors, and many habits that emulate our larger avian cousins, macaws, make us a wonderful apartment companion, or any other size household.

We eat many of the same foods our larger cousins do, and are also flock birds, enjoying the company of similar conures in the wild. Although we can eat many of the same foods as our human companions, remember, there are identified foods that are not good for any avian companion. You want to keep us happy and healthy, so please follow the recommended diet restrictions of our kind.

We enjoy our baths, clean cages, and having our general overall condition checked on a regular basis. Pay close attention to our feather condition, and please, do not be reluctant to take us for a visit to the vet, even if it is only to trim our toe nails and/or if you decide to trim our wings.

We can learn tricks, be taught to talk (although our speech is not as clear as other avian species), and wanting to please you. I step up, hang upside down, and sometimes fly to Rusty when he asks me to. Rusty is patiently working on getting me to do other tricks as well as talking, but it is a long process that requires a lot of time and patience on the part of my human companion.

We come from South America. Our species are many and varied. Our color hues and temperaments are as varied as our colors and hues. So, it depends on what you are seeking when going out to find a companion bird such as myself.

There are several sub-species of Conure. We originally were all lumped together into the Aratinga species of Conure, but over the years, as we have been studied, we have been broken into several groups. I am in the Pyrrhura sub-species. There are also the Aratinga, Nandayus, Psittacara, Thectocerus, Guarouba, Eupsitula, Quakers, Southerners, and the Patagonian conure.

Good luck in your search for a companion bird, and I hope you find as fulfilling as relationship with an avian companion as I am working on with Rusty.

The Alaska Bird Club • P.O. Box 101825 • Anchorage AK 99510
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