Golden Macaw - a new macaw species!!!!!!

[texbird]

We have a lorie.

Strongest personality and most difficulties of any bird we have. They are a handful and not for everyone.

I would not feel sorry for the flock at the park. That is the kind if living situation they would love.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by texbird

We have a lorie.

Strongest personality and most difficulties of any bird we have. They are a handful and not for everyone.

The exotic bird store here has one (wonderful place, although the owner's grandson who is runnign it now isn't as intent on making sure you know what you're getting into as she was.)

It's such a mess because the cage is rather small (not TOO small, but smaller than ideal because of space contraints) and he has to be by himself, and the nectar gets EVERYWHERE. Sweet guy, though, even if I did have to hose myself off after just holding him for a second. They sure do like to play with their food!

[KimHonea]

Originally Posted by amiestgermain

According to the research a few friends of mine and I did last week to answer the same question, the quaker is DEFINITELY a parakeet. . . .

Thanks for the information. I was always curious about that.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by KimHonea

Thanks for the information. I was always curious about that.

I wouldn't stand by in it court :) That's the result of about 2 hours of looking around with several people, so I'm SURE there are sources out there who dispute exactly what we found out. But, again, it was just to sooth our curiosity at the time and not for any kind of research paper or anything, so it made us happy.

It was also fun because I met a lorie the day after we did this, and the bird's owner let me look at her tongue!! Very neat.

[KimHonea]

Originally Posted by amiestgermain

IIt was also fun because I met a lorie the day after we did this, and the bird's owner let me look at her tongue!! Very neat.

We fed some Lories at the zoo a month or so ago. They were beautiful birds, but these weren't what I'd call pets. They were tame enough to come and eat out of your hand, but they still liked to get nippy.

[prissyCrissie]

Im a little confused on the classifications aswell. I mean, the conure-macaw debate has been the talk of ornithologists for years, but with no REAL scientific variability to go by.

Mabye someone can explain to me why alexandrines are classified as parakeets? im just curious :P

[Freedomoflight]

Originally Posted by prissyCrissie

Im a little confused on the classifications aswell. I mean, the conure-macaw debate has been the talk of ornithologists for years, but with no REAL scientific variability to go by.

Mabye someone can explain to me why alexandrines are classified as parakeets? im just curious :P

I'd think its because of the long tails.


Anyone been able to dig up a link to this report of reclassification? I'd love to read it.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by prissyCrissie

Im a little confused on the classifications aswell. I mean, the conure-macaw debate has been the talk of ornithologists for years, but with no REAL scientific variability to go by.

Mabye someone can explain to me why alexandrines are classified as parakeets? im just curious :P

Parakeet - Any of 115 species in 30 genera (subfamily Psittacinae) of small, slender seed-eating parrots with a long, tapering tail

Alexandrines are in the subfamily Psittacinae, and "parakeet" is the common term for Psittacinae, according to the research we did. It doesn't mean they resemble budgies or conures in PERSONALITY, but in their biological makeup. (Diet, bone structure, etc. . . ) Psittacinae - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[svolk]

Originally Posted by amiestgermain

Cockatoos are their own family. They're not "true parrots", which would be the Psittacidae family. Ummm. . .. don't ask me why Psittacidae means true parrots--I see nothing "false" about a cockatoo being a parrot. We got that from researching Toos for the first one we fostered because they are VERY much different from the other parrots we had.

Here is a good article that discusses classifications, and also explains why Cockatoos are in a separate Family - the Cockatoos differ because of their moveable head crest, different arrangement of carotid arteries, difference in skull bones, and they lack the Dyck texture feathers.

parrots - Information from Reference.com

Hopefully people are starting to understand why I can't stand people calling budgies "parakeets" - it's just too vague since there are SO many types of parakeets that are not related to the budgies Parakeet literally means "small parrot with a long tail."

[Monica]

Alright... I couldn't resist! I only very resently seen this post, and would like to give my input!

I'm not so sure about the smaller Pyrrhura conures, but I have no doubt in my mind that Aratinga conures and Ara macaws derived from the same ancestors... As I see it, Aratinga conures are to Ara Macaws as the Cockatiel is to the Cockatoos (probably black too's at that instead of the white toos).

I'd like to point out some things within one of the links that was in this thread...
Is the Queen of Bavaria conure (or golden conure) an aberrant member of the genus Aratinga that includes the sun, jenday and orange-fronted conures as suggested by Forshaw (1989), or is it the only member of the genus Guaruba as indicated by Juniper and Parr (1998)?

Returning to the debate over the genus of the Queen of Bavaria conure, Figure 1 (where-ever that may be?) illustrates that the Aratinga conures are more closely related to the Spix's macaw than they are to the Queen of Bavaria conure. This gives us a solid scientific reason to say that the Queen of Bavaria deserves to be honored with its own genus, Guaruba.

Golden Conures used to be labeled as Aratinga guarouba, until more recent research (as mentioned above) they were put in a genus all their own (just like Nanday Conures - their own genera), now labeled as Guaruba guarouba....

You can learn more about them here...
Golden Conure - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Golden Conure Survival Fund/Home

Now back to the thread itself... no one was able to come up with a link to verify that the Golden Conures were reclassified as Macaws. Yeah, some may argue that the Golden Conure has a "Macaw beak" thus it must be a macaw... likewise, I could argue that the Hahns Macaw has a "Conure beak," thus must be a conure. Short and simple that's a pointless argument... especially when larger conures can hybridize with the smaller macaws, if not the larger ones as well.

The question is, is what distinguishes macaws from conures and visa versa??? Well conures have a white ring of skin around their eyes. Doesn't matter if they are Aratinga or Pyrrhura.... or Nandayus or any other genera of conure species. All Ara macaws have a distinctive skin patch that covers the cheeks, or is so small it goes from the eyes to the beak (such as in the Red Fronted Macaws). The other macaw species that do not have this distinctive skin patch (Hyacinths, for example) may have extra skin around the beak itself (as seen in pictures). By this definition alone, we can gather that the Golden Conure is INDEED a conure and not a macaw. I'm not arguing and saying that it IS NOT a macaw because it may very well be, but by the definitions set for conures vs macaws, it is labeled as a conure.



Therefore, I do not believe that this particular conure was relabeled as a macaw... And through all of that, this thread has been an interesting read!