Green-cheeked Conure
Pyrrhura molinae
 

The Green-cheeked Conure  is probably the most-recognized species of Pyrrhura. In the wild, Green-cheeked Conures are found in the highlands of Eastern Bolivia. The Green-cheeked Conure is about 10 inches in length, including the long, pointed tail feathers that are characteristic of conure. The Green-cheeked Conure is a very social, interactive, boisterous, and playful bird when raised as a pet. Like all Pyrrhura, they can go through a nippy phase when they are a few months of age, but this phase usually passes in a few weeks so long as the pet owner provides consistent boundaries and doesn't reinforce the behavior. Pyrrhura Conures are known as the "quiet conures" and do not have the high-pitched vocalization that many Aratinga conures species exhibit. Of course, if you have more that one bird, the noise will increase as they call back and forth to each other. Green-cheeks breed fairly easy. I use a tall grandfather type nestbox with a shelf just inside the entrance hole so the male has a place to sit while guarding the nest.  

                    Cinnamon, Turquoise, Yellowsided and Turquoise

 

 

There are several mutations of the Green-cheeked Conure currently being bred in the U.S. Note that these are mutations, or color variations, of the same species, and not hybrids, which are crosses of different species. 

 

Sex-linked recessive mutations include  cinnamon and yellowsided, as well as a combination of these mutations, cinnamon-yellowsided, which is known as "pineapple". With sex-linked recessive mutations, the color gene is on the X chromosome. In parrots the males are XX and the females are XY: this is directly opposite of humans sex chromosomes. For males to exhibit the mutation they must have the mutation genes on both X chromosomes. If they only have it on one of the X chromosome (also known as being "split to" the mutation), they will look like the normal wild-type green bird, but can pass along the mutation to their offspring. For females, they only have to have the mutation genes on the single X chromosome to exhibit the mutation. Because it is sex-linked, the mutation cannot be carried on the Y chromosome. Therefore, females cannot be split to sex-linked recessive mutations. Females either will show the mutation or not carry it at all.

 

                                                                       

"Turquoise", or par-blue, is an autosomal recessive mutation. Autosomal recessive mutations require the mutation genes to be present on both the X's in males or both the X and Y in females for the mutation to be visual. If it is only on one of the chromosomes, the bird will be "split to " the mutation and will be a visual normal green bird, but can still pass along the trait to its offspring. With autosomal recessive inheritance, both males and female can be split to the mutation. If a bird has a blue mutation, what this really means is that it has a inhibitor of yellow pigment. Most wild-type normal birds are green. Since blue + yellow = green, if the yellow is inhibited, the bird will be just blue. With par-blue or "turquoise", the inhibition of yellow pigment is incomplete, so the bird can have a varying expression of green within the blue.