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Yellow-Sided GREEN-CHEEKED Conure
For more questions about the Pyrrhura family of conures, please consider the purchase of our informative DVD. This will answer most questions.
FREE DVD WITH PURCHASE OF A BIRD FROM US!


photo by Gail J. Worth

(Pyrrhura molinae/Pyrrhura hypoxantha)

In the mid 1980s while working in a quarantine station in Los Angeles, Ca., I first came upon the Yellow-Sided Conure. I was banding a group of Green-Cheeked Conures imported from Argentina when I noticed two brightly colored conures in the group with the others. After referencing these birds in Parrots Of The World, I learned that Forshaw questioned if the Yellow-Sided were a separate species and not just a sub-species of the Green-Cheeked Conure.

The Yellow-Sided Conure, while similar in color to the Green-Cheeked on the back and tail, differs greatly in the coloration of the breast feathers, feet and facial feathers. The term "yellow-sided" is actually in reference to the sides of the breast area. Brightly colored yellow and green, they differ from the solid green of the normal colored Green- Cheeked. The center of the breast and abdomen area is a bright red to yellow variation of color and the throat and facial feathers are a light, white gray color. The feet are pink in juveniles, turning gray with age.

I purchased these two birds, which I learned were females. To prove that they were in fact naturally occuring color mutations of the Green-Cheeked, I paired one bird with a Green-Cheeked male and the other with a male Painted Conure. I had previously seen offspring producd from a Green-Cheeked/Painted Conure cross and used this as my comparison. The offspring produced by the Yellow-Sided/Painted Conure cross resembled these exactly. The Green-Cheeked/Yellow-Sided cross produced visually normal colored Green-Cheeked Conures. Interestingly enough, all offspring produced by both crosses were determined to be female. I separated my pairs and put the project aside until years later when fellow aviculturist Denna Ferris began her breeding research. She had also purchased two Yellow-Sided females at the same time as I had with the same results in her offspring production. Visually normal colored, female Green-Cheeked Conures. After several generations of line breeding, Denna was successful in producing visual Yellow-Sided females. But it took several more generations of line breeding to produce visual Yellow-Sided males. At this time I purchased from her to visual males and the rest, they say, is history. In addition to the Yellow-Sided, Fallow Green Cheeks and European blood lines that are split to blue have been added to the breeding collection creating an enormous variety of new and
exciting color variations. We eagerly await the feathering of each new baby to see just what color he or she will be! I must also note that these birds are some of the most gentle I have worked with. Birds held back for breeding are still very easy to handle even months after weaning. Birds kept as companion animals are said to be sweet, social, intensely animated, and good talkers.
Click here to see our newest mutation colors the American Dilute,
American Dilute/Yellow-Sided, and the Suncheek!


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