Nanday Conure Identification Guide

Key Field Marks

• Size & shape: A medium-small parakeet with a long, pointed tail typical of conures, and quick, direct flight on pointed wings.
• Head: Solid black covering the face, crown, and chin, sharply contrasting with the green body — the single most distinctive feature, giving rise to the alternate name Black-hooded Parakeet.
• Body: Bright green overall, with a bluish wash across the throat and upper breast.
• Legs/thighs: Red patches on the thighs ("red pantaloons"), visible at rest and in flight.
• Bill: Blackish.

Separating It From Similar Species

• Monk Parakeet: Lacks a black head, instead showing a gray forehead, throat, and breast on an otherwise green body; also builds large stick nests, unlike Nanday Conures which nest in cavities.
• Mitred Parakeet and other Aratinga conures: Show red on the head/face rather than a full black hood, and lack the red thigh patches.
• White-winged Parakeet: Smaller, all green with white in the wing, no black head.

Where and When to See It

Nanday Conures are native to central South America — parts of Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and northern Argentina — where they inhabit palm savanna, gallery forest, and marshy lowlands. Escaped and released cage birds have established self-sustaining feral populations in warm climates, notably in Florida (especially around Tampa Bay and southeast Florida) and in parts of California, where they are resident year-round in suburban parks, golf courses, and neighborhoods with mature trees.

Voice

Loud and highly vocal, giving harsh, screeching "queek" or "kee-ah" calls, often in noisy chattering flocks, especially at dawn and dusk when birds gather to roost communally.