The Sun Conure can be found in most of South and Central America. Some species are also well represented in the West Indies, as well as parts of Mexico. In the wild sun conures are friendly, peaceful birds and seldom fight with each other. They live together in groups of twenty or more birds, even during the mating season, and feed on various seeds, fruits, and insects.

Hailing from the northeastern coast of South America, sun conures are approximately 12 inches in length, including their long tail. Their body build is slender, and their feathers are bright, iridescent shades of orange, blue, yellow and green. Unlike some other species which have definite coloration patterns, the sun conures sometimes have a combination of these colors over almost any part of their bodies. Young sun conures tend to have feathers which are predominantly green, while older birds sport more of the yellow or reddish-orange. This change of feather coloring from green to the brighter oranges, golds and yellows is most noticeable on the back, abdomen and head of the bird as it matures. General plumage is yellow and green while the cheeks, forehead, abdomen and down to the lower back are tinged with bright fiery orange. The outer webs of the primary flight feathers are a deep blue while the primaries are bright green; the secondaries are also green. The upper side of the tail is colored an olive-green with blue tips; the under tail-coverts are green with a marked yellow tinge; the median and greater upper wing-coverts are green with yellow edging. All of these colors become brighter and more vivid as the bird matures, with some birds sporting almost totally yellow tones in their body color. The beak and feet are both black.

A baby Sun Conure will be a mix of dark green, yellow and orange colors. Over a period of about 6-8 months, the darker green feathers will be molted out and replaced by brilliant yellow ones on the chest, head and back.

Sun Conures are capable of learning to talk, although their range is limited and their voices are squeaky and birdlike. They like to imitate amusing sounds (microwave beeps, etc.). They really enjoy human attention, especially if there is no other bird around for them to groom and play with.

Screeching is normal for most parrots. It's how they say hi to each other and how they announce that they're happy. So in the morning and the evening, your sun conure will say "I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!" for ten minutes to half an hour. Your sun conure will also greet you when you have been away by screeching hello. And when your sun conure is in his cage, happily hanging by one foot while he tries to rip the clapper out of a bell, he'll screech because he is happy. So there are a lot of normal reasons for a parrot to screech, and sun conures tend to be especially noisy members of the family.