Exotic Species

Sun Conure vs. Green Cheek Conure

Conures are a funny and athletic bird that likes to play and do tricks. These birds are smart, get along with people, and are easy to train. 

As a whole, they are loving and cuddly birds that are kind to everyone in the family as long as they are taken care of well. The bird is not weak, though. If it feels threatened, it can quickly become aggressive and expressive with its voice.

Whether you are adding a new conure to the household or picking up a new buddy as a starter, we will provide you with all the information on habitat, feeding, character, personality, cost, size, body language, sounds, meaning, color, and all other necessary details.

If you’ve ever considered Sun Conure or Green-cheek conure, but don’t know which one to settle for then this article is all you need.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure?

Sun Conures are similar to Green Cheeks, but they have a more vibrant appearance. Their bodies are a more yellowish-green and their heads are slightly smaller. Sun conures also have a green cheek which is not as pronounced in the green cheek bird.

The sun conure is one of the most popular conures of its size because it has beautiful feathers, is very friendly, and makes an excellent pet bird. Sun conures are active, talkative, and expressive birds. They are most famous for their beauty and their big mouths.

The sun conure is about 12 inches long and can be easily identified by its bright orange and yellow coloring, which is often spotted with green. On the other hand, green-cheeked conures are the best pets because they were raised by people and are used to being around people from a young age.

Both birds are friendly and active, and they like to be around their owners. Even though they can be rude and stubborn at times, they are one of the most laid-back conure species.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Differences Between a Sun Conure and a Green Cheek Bird?

Here are the main differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conure
The sun conure comes from Venezuela, northern Brazil, and Guyana in South America. In South America, the green-cheeked conure is a common bird. It lives in the forests and woods of Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay.
From head to tail tip, a sun conure is 10 to 13 inches long. This species of conure is about 10 inches long and weighs between two and three ounces.
Can live for more than 30 years in a cage. Can live for more than 30 years in a cage.
It’s easy to spot because of its bright orange and yellow colors, which are often spotted with green. Their long, pointed tail is usually blue or maroon. They have white rings around their eyes and black beaks and feet.
Sun Conures are very social birds that usually live in groups of 15 to 30.  It usually lives with 10–20 other birds in the treetops or in larger groups where there is more food.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Color

Here are the main differences color between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
Sun Conure Pied
Through recessive inheritance of the gene, scientists recently were able to make a pied mutation of a sun conure. The pied sun conure looks different from a regular sun conure as well. In contrast to a normal sun conure, which has a mix of colors, a pied sun conure is mostly yellow.
Yellow-sided: Many people think that the Yellow-sided Green-Cheeked Conure is the original, wild Green-Cheeked Conure when they look at it from the back. But this bird is different because its chest is bright yellow and its tail is maroon or light red. It has dark feet, a dark beak, and dark eyes.
Sun Conure Red Factor
This is a rare color change in a sun conure, but it is just as beautiful and interesting as the other ones. In the early 1990s, it was first seen in Hawaii. Since then, American breeders have been collecting these little parrots to use in their own breeding programs or to sell to people who like this mutation.
Cinnamon: Some of the conure’s feathers are lighter and almost white, but most are the same color as the conure. The head of this bird is mostly tan, and its tail is a light maroon color.
Failed Sun Conure Color Mutation
The cumulative color inheritance method is used to make this mutation, as it is with many other parrot species. A double red factor sun conure is a bird that is made when two red factor sun conures have babies. The babies would be very dark red, almost bronze in color.
Pineapple: This bird looks like a mix of Cinnamon and the Yellow-Sided because it has a light-colored head like Cinnamon and yellow sides like the Yellow-Sided. The chest of this bird is a bright color. The back feathers are lime green, just like in Cinnamon.
Turquoise Sun Conure
There has also been a “supposed” turquoise sun conure floating around, but it is not a real sun conure color mutation. The turquoise sun conure that many breeders sell to people who like sun conures is actually a color change in a different conure species called the green-cheeked conure.
Turquoise: The name of this bird tells you that most of its feathers are bluish-green, and the feathers on its tail are gray. The bird’s head and beak are both a bright, dull blue color. The name of this bird comes from the turquoise-green color of its cheeks.
Muted or Ghostly: The greenish-gray cheek The head, chest, tail, stomach, and wings of a conure are all a light blue color, while the rest of its body is a soft mint color. People like this mutation because of the soft mint color of the bird’s feathers, which cover its whole body.
American Dilute Blue: The feathers on this conure are light cream or beige color. This mutation looks a lot like Cinnamon, but the beak and feet of the bird are dark blues. The eyes of the American Dilute are dark, and its young are covered in beautiful white fluff.
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Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Feeding

Here are the main feeding differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
Specially made pelleted food for conures that are nutritionally complete and balanced should make up 60–70% of your conure’s diet. Fresh vegetables, fruits, and fortified seeds can be given as occasional treats. In the wild, green-cheeked conures eat fruit, vegetables, seeds, and sometimes a bug or two. The same foods should be given to pet conures.
Avocados, fruit seeds, chocolate, caffeine, and alcohol are poisonous to birds and can make them sick or kill them if they eat them. Also, avoid giving birds treats that are salty, sweet, or fatty. For the best health, give your conure a wide range of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as a high-quality pellet diet.
Veggies and fruits that haven’t been eaten in a few hours should be thrown away. Using the “chop” idea, which means making a salad mixture ahead of time, is a simple way to add a variety of fresh foods.
Fresh, clean water is changed every day. Fresh, clean water that gets changed every day.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Size

Here are the main size differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
The sun conure is approximately 12 inches long. About 10 inches long and mostly green.

“Character, personality, and talk

Here are the main character differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
They are smart and friendly, but they need to spend time with their owners every day so they can make friends and stay entertained. Green-cheeked conures are social, active birds that love to play with their owners.
Since they are known to be very active and loud, with repeated high-pitched screams, they are not good pets for people who can’t stand the noise. People say that green-cheeked conures are smart and can learn quickly. They can learn easy things to do.
Are easy to train and don’t usually pick out favorite family members as some other bird species do. So, they make good pets for homes. They can be mean and nasty and stubborn sometimes, but overall, they are the most laid-back species of conure.
Are usually noisier when they don’t get enough attention. They might learn to say a few words, but they are not known for being good talkers. Usually, they don’t talk like the other parrots. Most owners say that the fact that they don’t know how to talk to people is made up for by the fact that they have big egos.

Habitat

Here are the main habitat differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
The sun conure lives mostly in tropical forests that are inland, but it can also be found in dry savanna woodlands and coastal forests. They usually inhabit fruiting trees and palm groves. In the wild, green-cheeked conures live in forests and woodlands in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay.

Play and Exercise

Here are the main play and exercise differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
Sun conures are very smart birds, and foraging toys are important to help them learn and grow. To get birds to play with toys, they should come in different colors, shapes, and textures. Your bird might need to be out of its cage for two to four hours a day so it can exercise and talk to other birds.
Every day, you should let your sun conure out of its cage for at least three hours. If there is more than one bird in the cage, make more room for each one. The more birds you want to keep and the bigger the cage needs to be, the more birds you want to keep.
This bird likes to come up with its tricks. Give it a play gym on top of its cage so that it can flex its legs and wings. The green-cheeked conure lives in the wild with a group of other birds. Even though it’s your pet, it still needs to spend a lot of time with you.
Sun conures like to take baths and will splash around in a shallow bowl of water every day. As with some other parrots, they may also like getting a spray shower from overhead misters. The green-cheeked conure should play and grow well with other green-cheeked conures, but not with other types of birds.
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Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Maintenance Cost

Here are the main maintenance cost differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
You can expect to pay between $400 and $600 for an adult Sun Conure the first time you buy one. The average price for an adult is around $500.
Some rescue groups, on the other hand, do not charge a fee.
Whittaker says that a green-cheeked conure costs between $149 and $350 on average. Most likely, breeders will cost less than pet stores.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Body Language

Here are the main body language differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sun Conure Green Cheek Conures
Watch for balance.Conures can easily fly around the room because their wings are strong and stable.

If it stops being able to do this, it could be because of its heart or several other illnesses.

Watch their energy level.If your conure moves around the room like a bird and isn’t acting weird, you can assume it is healthy.

If the pet bird seems uninterested or reluctant to move, this could mean that it is lonely, sad, or even sick.

Check their posture.A healthy bird will move with care and stand up straight. If it looks tired or saggy, it could be a sign of something more serious.

If your bird is sitting oddly, it might be hurt or sick. Get your bird checked out by a doctor.

Observe their eyes.If you see your bird squinting or covering its eyes, it may be hurting.If you see any of these signs, your parrot might need medicine and a trip to the vet.

When a bird is awake, its eyes will be clear, without any tears or discharge.

Preening 
A healthy conure will groom itself often. A conure that just sits around and picks at its feathers, on the other hand, may be bored or, worse, sad.
Observe its wings.If your conure needs air, it will flap its wings too much and look at you with an interesting face.

If the bird’s wings are moving, but you can’t tell where they are going, the bird may be in a lot of pain and you should look for signs of pain.

Pay attention to the sounds they make.Your parrot’s words can mean different things depending on where they come from (mouth or beak), how high or low the pitch is, and how loud or soft they are.

Imagine how you would react if someone talked to you in that tone of voice to figure out what your bird is saying.

It could be a “Happy Dance.”Conures also have ways to show you how happy and pleased they are.Make sure you can read the coral’s body language to know when it’s a good time to pay more attention to your bird.

If your bird is waving its tail and fluffing its feathers, you should do the same.

Don’t get upset if you don’t get it right away. The more time you spend with your bird, the better you will be able to read its body language. Here are some of the most common things you should look for in these birds.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Sounds and Meanings

Here are the main sound differences between a sun conure and a green cheek conure:

Sound (For both the Sun Conure and the Green-cheeked Conure)
Whistle When their owner leaves the room, conures will often whistle to get their attention and ask if they are okay.
Quack When your conure is in mild pain, it makes this low, quacking sound, which many conure owners describe as “grinding,” “purring,” or “grunting”.
Talking Your conure will usually talk to itself in silence in another room. ThPolyomavirusthat it is happy and content like how your conure is usually happy and at ease when it acts like you or copies what you do.
Chirps The most common sound a conure makes is a chirp, which can mean anything from “hello” to “run away!”
Scream Conures will scream so loudly when they are in a lot of pain or fear that it is hard to hear. This is not a sound you want to hear from your bird.
Beak grinding Birds self-soothe by grinding their beaks, which helps them fall asleep and settle down. It sounds happy and good.
Chattering Parrots talk to each other through their chatter. It’s a happy sound that shows joy and is used to get people’s attention.
Growling When a parrot growls, it means it’s upset and stressed. This is a sign telling you to stay away. Be careful, because the next step is a bite.
Beak clicking When defending their space, territory, or mates, parrots make clicking sounds.
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Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

What are the pros and cons of owning a Sun Conure?

Pros Cons
Very beautiful, and generally playful. Noisy and not good for apartments or living close to other people.
Soft, friendly calls. Can say a few words. Can be mean to children if they bother it.
It builds a strong relationship with its owner. Most of the time, diarrhea or Polyoma virus happens when they overeat fruit.

What are the Pros and Cons of Owning a Green Cheek Conure?

Pros Cons
Friendly and open Even if they aren’t as loud, they can still be loud and may not be good for apartments.
It is smart and can be taught to do tricks. At least two to four hours of exercise and interaction with other people.
It is quieter than most parrots.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

The Sun Conure is a good first bird.

The Sun Conure is a good bird for a beginner. It’s one of the few cuddly birds that get close to its owner and cuddles up with them.

It makes a soft, pleasant sound when it calls, and it often whistles melodies or copies sounds it hears in the house.

They are usually strong and don’t get sick as often as some other bird species, especially when they have good food and a good place to live.

Is the Green Cheek Conure a good first bird?

The Green Cheek Conure is a good bird for someone just starting. This bird is a great pet for people who have never had a bird before. 

They are small, like to play and learn new skills, and don’t make much noise, which seems to be a reward for what people do.

They keep themselves and their owners busy for hours at a time. People love these cute little birds because they havPolyomavirusnalities, are easy to train, and can quickly learn new languages. They are curious animals that like to be close to their owners and have company.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

Can Sun Conure and Green Cheek Conure live together?

No, both sun conure and green cheek conure can be very sweet and affectionate, but the two will definitely fight over territory. They do not get along well at all. It’s best to keep them in separate cages or aviaries so that they don’t have to contend with each other for food or resources.

Before Green Cheek is ready to connect and become a friend, it might take some time to build trust.

The best way to get a sun conure and a green cheek to get along is to put them in the same room and let them talk to each other.

Since this could go on for a few months, you can keep track of how they change.

What’s better, a sun conure or a green-cheeked conure?

The Sun Conure is more likely to be friendly, while the Green Cheek Conure is more likely to be busy. 

The only big difference between the sun conure and the green-cheeked conure is how loudly they talk and call. 

Sun conures are as beautiful as they are loud. On the other hand, the quiet Green Cheek can be loud for a reason.

So if you don’t mind the noise, go for Sun conure. But if being quiet is a thing for you, very well then, you’ve got a green cheek.

Sun Conure vs Green Cheek Conure

What Is the Friendliest Conure?

Sun Conures are usually friendlier than Green Cheek Conures. The Sun variety loves to cuddle with its owners and forms a strong, real bond with the whole family.

Which conure is the most talkative?

The sun conure is very loud and more engaging for these birds. It’ll learn to say a few words faster than a green-cheek would. The Sun Conure is more likely to be friendly, while the Green Cheek Conure is more likely to be busy.

Which conure is best for me?

I like a conure that will cuddle, be loving, charming, and playful, but won’t be so loud that it’s annoying.

If you want a more quiet bird, choose a green-cheeked or dusky conure. Even though they probably won’t learn to talk, they are very active. They are just as much fun as a sun conure but don’t make as much noise.

Both sun conures and green-cheeked conures will want you to pay attention to them. Both are not good birds for someone who doesn’t have time.

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