The first time that I was in San Blas, Nayarit, "a birders paradise," I was beyond thrilled when I saw while on a La Tavara jungle boat tour a pair of these birds preening each other as they were perched on a branch that was hanging over the river. Back home in Churintzio, Michoacan, I have one of those birds (or more accurately, he has me, heart and soul!) and this was the first time I had seen one in the wild; in the wild they are captivating to behold! The American Ornothologists Union recognize them as being orange-fronted parakeets, as does most of the rest of the scientific world, but in the commercial bird trade they are known as half-moon conures or orange-fronted conures.

Parakeet? Conure? Aratinga? New World Parrot? Whatever you want to call them, as they fit all four of those categorizations, these are visually and behaviorally fascinating birds.

Orange-fronted parakeets (not to be confused with a different species of the same name that are found in New Zealand which are highly endangered) occur starting from the state of Sinaloa in Northwest Mexicali of the way down along the country’s Pacific slope into Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and as far east as Northwestern Costa Rica. Interestingly, their range directly coincides with that of the colonial termite, in whose termitaria/mounded nests these birds typically occupy for their own nests- while less frequently utilizing tree cavities for nesting purposes. Although in Mexico illegal trapping of them for the pet trade, primarily inside of Mexico and to a lesser degree in the U.S., along with habitat destruction poses a substantial risk, their population is stable; they are not considered to be “endangered” or "threatened" at this time and their status is listed as being in the "special protection" category.

A member of the Aratinga (Latin for “little macaw“) conure genus, they are small, slightly built yet long tapered tailed members of the parrot family that are about 9.5” long while weighing only 2.5 ounces or so. Unlike the smaller parrot family members budgerigars and peach-faced love birds that I also “own," orange fronted-parakeets look like miniature versions of the, typically, much longer and broader/stouter Amazon parrots. Their bodies are mostly multiple shades of green, ranging from somewhat yellowish to a pale green to an olive tone on their throat and chest while their primary flight feathers are a vivid blue and their secondary ones are edged in blue; consequently, in flight, their wings flash a gorgeous deep blue. What gives them their name, make that names-be it orange-fronted or half-moon- is the wide orange band on their forehead. Also, quite distinctively, their head has a blue crown and their eyes are enchantingly highlighted by a bare bright yellow eye-ring. Their bill is horn-colored above and dusky below while their feet, which unlike budgies or love birds are used for holding food while they eat, are scaled in appearance and grayish.

Permanent residents, orange-fronted parakeets are found in such habitats as arid to semi-humid forests, semi-open areas with scattered forest patches, and plantations. Research indicates that they often inhabit coffee plantations and that was witnessed by myself, or I should say almost witnessed, as I loudly heard but could not see a large flock of them while birding with a small group in the coffee plantations on ejido land in Tecuitata, just outside of San Blas. With a lifespan of up to thirty years, when not mating, they live in fairly large flocks of from 30-80. During the mating season, as I saw in San Blas at the river, they pair up. Their diet consists primarily of fruit/berries (they particularly relish figs) along with seeds, nuts, and blossoms/flowers.

However, most of my knowledge about orange-fronted parakeets, no better make that half-moon conures, is by having daily experienced for the last few years the one that owns me, Payno, short for jalapeno, as he certainly is one small yet spicy bird. You see, within two days of arriving to live in Mexico, I went to the nearby city of Zamora. There I purchased for about 1/8 of what I would have paid in the U.S. for what is generically locally referred to as “un perico” or “un loro” but is really in Spanish “un perico frentenaranja”- an orange-fronted parrot.

Payno, bred in captivity, like all of his namesakes, due to his irrepressible and huge personality is best described as being “a big (make that gigantic!) bird in a small body.” Although he is part of a bird menagerie that consists of four budgies, four peach-faced love birds, and a male Northern cardinal (the only non-parrot of the flock), there is no mistaking that he wants to be the dominant one.

First let’s discuss one aspect of Payno’s dominant behaviors and personality, his vocalizations. His “normal” vocalizations are raucous, screechy, reedy, and yelling/screaming. Despite the fact that compared to other Aratingas he is considered to be a “quieter conure,” he is LOUD, LOUD, LOUD…; thus, proving that all things in life are indeed relative! No apartment bird is he! Virtually all day from sunrise to just before sunset he can be loudly heard as he “communicates” with myself, my wife, Maria, and the other birds. When socializing with me in a separate part of the house, frequently he will be screaming out to the other birds who are in the distant courtyard and who are also vocalizing, making sure that they know who willfully demands to be the boss!

He is an excellent mimicker with kissing sounds as his specialty. Although I have never attempted to “teach” him to speak, he oftentimes, when the mood strikes him, is chattering away, although the words are hard to make out as only when “talking” does he have a little/quiet voice. Whenever someone comes to our house and sees Payno, without exception as that seems to be typical human behavior, the first thing that they ask is “puede habla”/can he speak and when I kind of perversely reply “no,” as I do not want to put him in the position to “perform,” they inevitably, condescendingly, and superficially say, “oh, he is quite lovely, though.”

There is no doubt that Payno is an affectionate, intelligent, playful, acrobatic, mind-of-his-own, and extremely mischievous attention seeker. Even though I tried to socialize him with Maria, like a lot of half-moon conures, he only wants one human mate. That mate is me and does he ever menacingly let Maria know that! He delights in (or should I say, we mutually take delight in) many one-on-one interactions together: his favorite, taking a walk or run with me in an enclosed area while on my shoulder; preening me by gently (or so he thinks!) “beaking” my hair, ears, and neck; having his neck and head rubbed and/or scratched; alternating his left and right foot when “shaking hands”; and "dancing" back and forth while rotating his head when desirous of my attention. When he wants to go into his house for the night, he will verbally let me know (yet, amazingly, once in his house, this perpetual day time noise machine who frequently sounds like an avian Gatling gun will not utter a single sound until it is time to eat in the morning).

As stated previously, in the wild orange-fronted parakeets eat mostly fruit. However, this half-moon conure’s diet consists of about 50% sunflower seeds and avena/oats with the rest of his daily food intake being fresh fruit and vegetables (with figs, mango, peach, pear, steamed corn on the cob, chard, and broccoli among the ones that he prefers), bread and corn or flour tortillas, and brown or white rice. For snacks he is partial to unsalted peanuts, unsalted popcorn, and multi-grain Cheerios. Oh yes, he vocally and persistently insists on being the first bird fed! Also, he is quite adept, for reasons only he knows, in sometimes hollering while there is food in his mouth.

Consequently, whether they are in the wild and called orange-fronted parakeets or in captivity as a mascota called half-moon conures (which is much “sexier” and more cosmic than “orange-fronted” in a U.S. merchandising sort of way) like Payno, these small parrots have become my favorite species of bird. Payno would not have it any other way. If you don’t believe me, just ask him and he would screamingly let you know!