Sun Parakeet Aratinga solstitialis Scientific name definitions

The globally threatened Sun Parakeet is a stunning golden-orange bird with an orange-red face and belly, while the wings and tail present a mix of yellow, green, and blue tones. The species is now restricted to west-central Guyana, and Roraima, in northernmost Brazil; the Sun Parakeet has been extirpated over much of this range, presumably by trapping for the caged-bird trade, and it is now very scarce or absent in many former areas of occurrence. An old (1848) record originally said to be southeastern Venezuela is now believed to emanate from Mount Roraima in Brazil. The species’ stronghold in this region appears to be in a relatively small area of Guyana, where local conservationists are working to protect it. To the south, an apparently separate population was comparatively recently described as a separate species, the Sulphur-breasted Parakeet (Aratinga maculata), which is best known from Brazil, in the savannas on the north bank of the Amazon, in northern Pará, and in westernmost Amapá where it was only recently discovered, but also occurs in southern Suriname, with a few reports from southern French Guiana. Despite their distinctiveness, almost nothing is known about the ecology and natural history of either the Sun Parakeet or the Sulphur-breasted Parakeet.