Diet:These parrots eat a wide variety of flowers, seeds and fruit as the seasons change. Some major items in the diet:

Species	Season	Photo
Guazuma ulmifolia seeds	Dry
Gliricidia sepium ovaries and flowers	Dry
Lonchocarpus minimiflorus fruits	Dry
Muntingia calabura fruits	Wet & Dry
Nancite (Byrsonima crassifolia) fruit	Wet
Cordia guancastensis seeds & pericarp	Wet
Bursera tomentosa fruits	Wet

 

Night Roosts: Orange-fronted Conures typically change night roosts every night. This does not necessarily mean that a large and popular roost will be untenanted on a given evening, but instead that the birds using that site tend to be different on successive nights. Some night roosts may house up to a 100 birds. More typically, several foraging flocks of 20 birds each will join during the late afternoon staging and then sleep together in a single tree. The most popular Conure sleeping tree in the SSR during the rainy season is the Poro Poro tree (Cochlospermum vitifolium). These small to medium trees have dense foliage that provides excellent concealment for sleeping Conures. The birds are often very fussy and will move from the staging trees into a succession of potential sleeping trees before they finally calm down and become silent. Conures tend to avoid defecating in their night roosts. This may be a defense against olfactory nocturnal predators.

Nesting: This species nests almost exclusively in arboreal termitaria (Nasutitermes) in the SSR. These termitaria are common throughout the ACG, usually on oaks (Quercus oleoides), and usually located on a large horizonal limb. Nesting by the conures occurs throughout the dry season with the first nests started in late December, and the last young fledging in early May. Pairs are relatively antisocial at this time of year as they spread out and investigate alternative termitaria. Eventually, a pair will select one and begin to defend it against other investigating pairs. Nest defense takes the form of extensive vocal warbling by one or both birds. Both sexes then excavate a tunnel and nest cavity within the termitarium. Although the termites are not happy with this invasion, they usually wall off the Conure tunnel and cavity from the rest of their

Arboreal termitarium in Oak with entry hole of Conure nest visible at bottom

colony. The entry hole to the tunnel is usually located right at the lower edge of the termitarium where it meets the branch on which it sits. The tunnel rises 20-25 cm and then enters the floor of the nesting cavity. There is usually a small lip between the tunnel and the shelf where eggs will be deposited either to keep eggs from rolling out or deter predators reaching into the tunnel. Orange-fronted Conures typically lay 5 eggs but, like most parrots, begin incubation as soon as the first egg is laid. This results in nestlings of different ages and body sizes. Incubation takes about 20 days and is entirely the duty of the female. During this time, the male makes periodic visits, calls the female out, and the birds fly off a short distance where the male regurgitates food to the female. She then returns to the nest and her incubation duties. Usually, the male returns at dusk and both parents sleep in the nest cavity. Both parents feed the nestlings. Typically, male and female fly off together and are gone for 1-2 hours while they feed. They then return together and take turns feeding the chicks over a 30-45 min period. Then they leave again to get more food. Usually, the parents will make 5-6 feeding visits a day to the nest. Foraging distances for the parents may be many kilometers from the nest. Chicks tend to fledge at three weeks of age. Because of the differences in sizes and ages, chicks in the same nest may fledge on different days. The parents continue to feed the smaller remaining chicks until they too can leave the nest. For the next month or two, the Conures move about as family units. Parents continue to supplement the fledglings with regurgitated food as the youngsters learn to eat wild foods. In May and June, one often hears the begging call of fledglings followed by the flapping of their wings as an adult regurgitates food to them. During June and July, family groups begin to merge to form the foraging flocks of 10-20 birds typical of the non-breeding season. It is presumed that at this time, young birds become finally free of their parents and begin to look for mates.

Predators: This Conure is small enough to be vulnerable to a number of bird-eating raptors. Although groups of 12-20 are common in the rainy season, single pairs are often encountered at all times of year. The birds do not appear particularly wary suggesting that raptor risks are not high. On the other hand, they are extremely silent when hidden in their night roosts which they change daily. This is likely because of predation risks from a large carnivorous bat, Vampyrum spectrum (Vehrencamp et al. 1977). Capuchin monkeys and snakes often attempt to capture both adults and young when in their termitarium nests. As a result, adults outside the nest make few calls and both enter and depart from the nest hole furtively. Humans may also be important nest predators outside of the ACG, where capture of nestlings for the pet trade is a common occurrence.

Flock Structure: Conures are typically seen in small flocks during the rainy season. During the dry season, most birds are seen in pairs, or partway through the dry season when some nests have fledged young, in small family groups of 3-7 birds. Flock composition is not highly stable, and radio-tracked birds have shifted to and from different associations at intervals of several days to several weeks. There are many occasions (night roosts, foraging aggregations, midday resting aggregations, and staging sites) where pairs can change flock affiliations. Conure society is highly fluid out of the breeding season and birds use a variety of vocal signals to mediate new affiliations.