Description
The nominate Golden-capped Conure (Aratinga auricapilla auricapilla) is mainly green in color, with the cheeks, ear coverts and throat a yellowish green or slightly yellowish. The areas around the eyes and the forehead are a red to orangish red. The crown is yellowish and the breast and abdomen are a reddish brown. The lower back and rump have green feathers with red edges. The primary feathers and wing coverts are a blue and the under-wing coverts are blue. The tail is olive green and bluish at the tip. The eyes have a brown iris and the naked eye ring is whitish. A. a. auricapilla is about 30 cm. in length and weighs about 150 grams. Juvenile birds have more yellow in the plumage and some red can be noted on the head. They usually are more deep in color and have more brownish red on the flanks and lower belly. The eye ring is a dark blackish color. The yellowish tinge in the under-wing coverts and cheeks is not a apparent. There is not as much red on the back and rump. It is very easy to confuse the auricapilla immatures with the aurifrons.
Aratinga auricapilla aurifrons has plumage like the nominate species but has more yellow on the crown and forehead. The throat, cheeks and ear coverts are a dark green rather than the yellowish green. The wide orange-red band extends to the crown and the rump feathers are green rather than the reddish brown border rump feathers of the nominate form. The eye ring is a grayish white. They too are approximately 30 cm. in length and about 150 grams. This bird seems to have somewhat of a larger head. Juvenile birds have a blackish eye ring and are reddish on the crown and forehead.
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Natural Range
Aritinga auricapilla auricapilla is found mainly in Northeastern Brazil in the north and central parts of Bahia. It inhabits the open woodland, savannahs and the forests. In South Bahia there seem to be some specimens that are an intermediate representation of the auricapilla and aurifrons.
Aratinga auricapilla aurifrons is native to a more Southeastern Brazil and can be found in the states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Parana. Not much is known about it's behavior or habitats, but it probably can be assumed that it also frequents open woodland, savannahs and forests.
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Personality
The Golden-capped Conure has a lower-pitched voice and a calmer demeanor than its close relatives, the Sun and Janday Conures. They are more like a mini-macaw (Noble and Hahn's) in their daily activity. As babies, Golden-cappeds are just as playfully mischievous as Suns, snuggling under your sweater, rolling off the back of the couch, and lying upside down in the palm of your hand. As they grow past six months, however, it is not unusual for a pet Golden-capped to settle in to the home in a near perfect niche. They interact with people gladly when allowed out of their cage, and will befriend visitors who are patient and calm. They are seldom prone to extended bouts of frantic activity, chewing or screeching if cooped up to long (as can be the case with the more high-strung Sun and Jenday Conures). Golden-capped conures are avid chewers. They love fresh branches of safe plants, daisy and marigold buds, spider plants, destructible toys, wooden chopsticks, plastic bottle caps and more. Cloth and rope chewies can be a favorite.
There are reports of certain male Golden-cappeds who learned to "talk." Though this tends to be the exception, this species certainly can communicate in a small mumbling voice. A lot depends upon the tonal quality of the voice of the keeper and how easily the conure can mimic it.
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