Abstract
T he Finsch's Conure is a 12- inch, mostly green Aratinga conure with a super personality. No known subspecies has been reported to date.The tiny red triangle squarely on the front of its head can cause this species to be confused with the Red-fronted Conure. The size of the adult Red fronted is noticeably larger at 14 to 15 inches.
The underwing coloration is identical with that of the White-eyed Conure which can create further confusion in the juvenile birds. Juveniles are hard to identify and can be sold as other species as a result.
Unfortunately, there are very few aviculturists in the United States who keep the Finsch's Conure although breeding them is quite easy and they make great parents. I do not think they have appeal to the Pet Market because
they lack the brilliant coloration of some of the other Aratinga conures.
Immature Finsch's usually have no red feather coloration at all. I have raised them to one year of age with only subtle color changes under the wing and a few tiny dots of red over the cere.
Finsch's Conures were imported into the United States until the early 1980s and have not been imported since. Their habitat at that time was considered to range from Southern Nicaragua to Panama, with the exception of western Costa Rica.
In the Field
According to Kevin Sharp who traveled to Costa Rica just this past year, as land is cleared , the Finsch's Conure is becoming more common in Costa Rica and is much more common on the Caribbean side and in the central plateau. They have even been observed on the Pacific side in the extreme south and occasionally in the Guanacaste region (in the northwest).
The Finsch's conure is listed in the Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. One of the authors of this guide is Alexander Skutch, an American living in Costa Rica who is one of the foremost ornithologists working in Latin America. He is well known in his field for not collecting specimens (killing the birds) to find out what they've eaten. Instead, Mr. Skutch maintains that this information can be obtained by observing their behavior.
Nesting season for this species in the wild is toward the end of the dry season/beginning of the wet season which occurs in April or May. The guide gives nesting sights as hollow trees and limbs, and the hollows in the broken off tops of palms. It also claims the birds have been known to burrow into the base of large epiphytes (bromeliads).
In the Aviary
In an aviary situation they can be raised as any other pair of conures. My specific cages are 2 x 2 x 4 feet long suspended cages with a feeding station and the nest box at the two-foot end. I separate each cage by one foot and the nestbox end is shielded from view by a two-foot square piece of metal.
The nest box I use is 12 x 12 x 24 inches deep. I use a combination of sterilized pine and aspen shavings for nesting material. I find Finsch's Conures do not chew up their nest boxes as do other conures. Nor will they dump their bedding out of the box.
Their diet consists mainly of a vitamin fortified sunflower mix and safflower with fruit and nuts, fresh com, apples, and millet. I also use a protein egg product and I always have uncolored, medium sized avian biscuits in their cages - they all love it. I also use a calcium supplement because my Finsch's Conures are prolific birds and some pairs will lay continuously.
I use water bottles and a stainless steel bathing vessel that I fill when I am in the aviary servicing the cages and remove when I leave. Most will bathe on cue.
Hand.fed Breeders
I handfeed most of the clutches but do occasionally allow parents to raise some of their young. I personally have no problems with hand-raised Finsch's Conures going to nest and rearing young. The only difference I have found between the domestic handfed adults and the parent-raised adults is the hand-raised birds will take a year or two longer to get the idea of what to do about breeding.