Bird of the Week: Karma the Sun Conure

Name:

Karma.

Species:

Sun Conure(Aratinga solstitialis solstitialis.)

Sex:

Female

Age:

3 months.

Favorite Foods:

According to Karma's mom, Lacey, she will try just about anything! Her favorite foods so far seem to be bananas, broccoli, and sunflower seeds.

Favorite Toys:

Karma loves things that she can pick up and throw around. Her favorite toys include poker chips, plastic beads, and small wooden blocks.

Favorite Perches:

Karma likes to be everywhere that Lacey is, so she has a great playstand on wheels that Lacey can easily move from room to room in the house. "She absolutely hates it when I get out of her sight." Lacey says. "She will keep giving her contact call until I come back!"

Dislikes:

Lacey says that Karma's biggest pet peeve is kind of a funny one: she hates hats. "If someone walks in wearing a hat, even just a baseball cap, Karma goes nuts until they either take it off or leave. I can't imagine why she hates them so much, but hats have pretty much become banned from our house."

Special Talents:

So far, Karma's biggest talent is being Lacey's alarm clock. "I don't know how she does it," Lacey says, "but every morning at 6:30 am, she wakes up and starts calling me. I don't even have to set an alarm anymore!"

Life with Karma:

Lacey got Karma from a local breeder when she was 8 weeks old. "She was a tiny little thing, and was still taking a few handfeedings. I had never had a bird before, and had certainly never handfed or weaned one, but her breeder lives right across the street and helped me feed her until she was weaned."

It was the breeder's close proximity, in fact, that got Lacey interested in owning birds. "I would go outside to check the mail or water my flowers," she says, "and I would hear all of her birds calling from inside of her house. After a while we starting talking regularly and she took me inside to meet her birds and their babies. I immediately took a liking to the Sun Conures, and fell completely in love with the species."

The breeder did not have any baby Sun Conures at the time, so Lacey had to wait for the breeder birds to lay a new clutch of eggs before she could claim a baby for her own. "It seemed like it was taking forever," she explains, "but in hindsight it was good for me to have all that time to research the species and make sure that a Sun Conure was right for me. I was able to spend a lot of time with the breeder, and with Karma's parents. I'll never forget the day that she called to tell me that there were eggs in the nest box!"

Once the clutch had hatched, Lacey visited the breeder every day to watch her do handfeedings and spend times with the birds. "There were 5 babies in the clutch, and I got to take my pick. Karma's little personality was just so strong, she jumped out at me right away. Once she was big enough for me to bring home, I knew that she was going to be my best friend."

Congratulations, Karma, on being chosen as "Bird of the Week"!

Do you think that your bird should be the next "Bird of the Week"? If so, check out these "Bird of the Week" Submission Guidelines to find out how to send me your bird's photo and story!