Ask Lafeber

Dusky conure

I recently rescued a dusky conure from a persons home. She looks fairly young due to her size, but she could be just small in stature. I can’t gauge her age, but her eyes are no longer grey in color; they’ve changed to that beautiful white/super light blue color. Her eyes don’t seem to be fully changed though, I think they’ll brighten further. Can you tell me an approximate age based on the evolution of eye color? Ie. what age do they start changing color? Thank you so much for your expertise and the wonderful food my birds love!

Hi,

Size really isn’t a good indication because in general parrots are full size once they have all of their feathers. They will fill out some, but not significantly. And with a conure, there isn’t an obvious increase in size. Since your new bird’s eye color has already changed to the lighter color, she is over a year old but she could be 1, 10 or 20. The eye color isn’t a good indicator of age after the first year. As with most parrots, there is no way to really guess a bird’s age once they have their mature colors, other than a very few exceptions. For example, the Blue Crown Conure’s feet gradually change from pink to an eventual really bright orange, which can take 20+ years. And some birds defy the norm – some African Greys and some Macaws have been known to keep the darker eye color of a juvenile bird. So just enjoy your new bird and let her be whatever age you decide! Fortunately most parrots do not exhibit signs of aging like dogs & cats, and while some develop age related issues, others seem to never age regardless of how old they are.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda