YELLOW-CROWNED AMAZON

The 'Yellow-crowned Amazon' or 'Yellow-crowned Parrot' (''Amazona ochrocephala''), is a species of parrot, native to the Americas with subspecies occurring from Mexico south to Peru and Brazil. There are feral populations of the subspecies ''oratrix'' in southern California, Florida and Puerto Rico. It is also known as the Yellow-headed Amazon, Yellow-headed Parrot, Yellow-naped Amazon, Yellow-naped Parrot or 'Panama Amazon'.

Contents

Description

Habitat

Behaviour

Subspecies

Conservation

References

Description

It is 35 to 37 cm long. The plumage is primarily green, with a yellow face and crown, a pale bill, white eye-ring and a red flash on the shoulder at the bend of the wing. Adult males and females do not differ in plumage; juveniles have the yellow colour restricted to the fore-crown and lack the red at the bend of the wing.

Habitat

It is a bird of tropical deciduous woodland, thorn scrubs, pine forest, mangroves, pine savanna and may also be found on cultivated land and in urban areas. It is strictly a lowland bird.

Behaviour

They are normally found in pairs, rather than flocks. Their food includes fruits, nuts, and seeds and berries.
The nest is usually in tree cavities where they lay three or four eggs. The incubation time varies from 25 to 26 days. Chicks stay in the nest from 21 to 70 days.

Subspecies

There are ten subspecies listed by the IUCN, but definitive classification has proved difficult, as the subspecies are more closely related than is the case with other Amazon parrot species and there has been little research into the genetic diversity of the different subspecies. Authorities at times divide them into three distinct species: ''A. ochrocephala'', the Yellow-crowned Amazon, ''A. auropalliata'', the Yellow-naped Amazon, and ''A. oratrix'', the Yellow-headed or Double Yellow-headed Amazon. Classification is acknowledged as a "taxonomic headache" (Howell and Webb 1994), and the IUCN not only lists the Yellow-naped and Yellow-headed Amazons as subspecies of the Yellow-crowned, but also lists them as separate species. This three-way split, though widely used, has not so far been supported by research. The ten subspecies are:

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala tresmariae'': Tres Marías Islands, off west-central Mexico

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala oratrix'': Pacific and Atlantic lowlands of Mexico

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala belizensis'': Belize

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala caribea'': Bay Island, Honduras

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala parvipes'': north-east Honduras and north Nicaragua

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala panamensis'': western Panama to north-west Colombia;

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala ochrocephala'': eastern Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad (Trinidad and Tobago), Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana down to Pará, Brazil

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala xantholaema'': Marajo Island, in the Amazon delta of northern Brazil;

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala nattereri'': southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, northern Bolivia and western Brazil.

★ ''Amazona ochrocephala auropalliata'': southern Mexico to north-western Costa Rica
Other subspecies sometimes mentioned in the literature are ''Amazona ochrocephala hondurensis'' which occurs in Honduras, and is normally included with either of the subspecies occurring in Honduras, ''Amazona ochrocephala guatemalensis'', native to Guatemala, which is included with ''A. o. belizensis'', and ''Amazona ochrocephala magna'', occurring on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, which is generally not considered valid.

Conservation

The species is rated as Least Concern by the IUCN. Although populations are believed to be in decline they do not yet approach the threshold specified by the IUCN to rate the species as Near Threatened, although two subspecies (''A. o. oratrix'' and ''A. o. belizensis'') are recognized by the IUCN to be threatened by loss of habitat and trapping for the pet trade, and six subspecies (''A. o. oratrix'', ''A. o. belizensis'', ''A. o. auropalliata'', ''A. o. caribaea'', ''A. o. parvipes'', and ''A. o. tresmariae'') are listed in Appendix I of CITES banning trade in the birds. In some areas of its range the bird is extremely common, and with doubt over the divisions between subspecies it is difficult to effectively gather data of the relative health of individual subspecies populations.

References

★ Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern.

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★ Phylogeny and Biogeography of the Amazona Ochrocephala (Aves:Psittacidae) Complex, Jessica R. Eberhard and Eldredge Bermingham, , , The Auk,

★ A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America, Steve N. G. Howell and Sophie Webb, , , Oxford University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-19-854012-4

★ Birds of Belize, H Lee Jones, , , University of Texas Press, , ISBN 0292701640

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