Alternative name: White-fronted Amazon
- Amazona albifrons
Identification
Length 22.5 - 29.0 cm (9-11½ in.)
Green, some blue on wings, red around eyes, white patch on forehead with blue behind; males - red shoulders, females green shoulders. Juveniles have less red faces, and the white area is yellow and smaller.
Similar species
Yellow-lored Parrot males are similar but have a brown spot behind the eye, a yellow dot between eye and bill and a red dot over the shoulder. Females have a less defined brown spot and only have a line in the forehead and blue crown. Lilac-crowned Parrot is bigger with forehead and sides of nape lilac; red wing patch in central part of flight feathers.
Variations
Populations average smaller with more yellow in their plumage going from north to south.
Distribution
Mexico through Central America to El Salvador and Costa Rica. In Mexico in the Pacific slope from southern Sonora to Chiapas and in the lowlands of the Gulf of Mexico, from southern Veracruz to the low lands of the Yucatan Peninsula.
An introduced population exists in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Taxonomy
This is a polytypic species. Three subspecies are recognized[1]:
- saltuensis: Pacific slope of NW Mexico (S Sonora, Sinaloa, W Durango).
- albifrons:Pacific slope of W Mexico (Nayarit) S to SW Guatemala.
- nana: E Mexico (from SE Veracruz and Yucatán Peninsula) to Belize and N Guatemala and S to W Costa Rica.
Habitat
Variety of habitats such as rainforests, and cactus savanna.
Behaviour
Highly social, they fly to feeding sites in big groups sometimes composed by more than one species. They are silent while feeding. When mixed with the Orange-fronted Parakeet groups become evident because of the noisy feeding behavior of the later species.
Breeding
They nest in tree cavities. 3-4 white eggs are laid and incubated for about 26 days.
Diet
They feed on fruits, nuts, seeds, berries, flowers and young leaves. Cactus fruits from Pachycereus and Lemaireocereus, and corn from agricultural fields.
Vocalisations
A variety of screeches and calls, and also a harsh grating chattering series of notes. A very noisy ak-ak-ak or a yap-yap-yap.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Collar, N. & Boesman, P. (2018). White-fronted Amazon (Amazona albifrons). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/54734 on 21 December 2018).
- White-fronted Parrot (Amazona albifrons), In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/whfpar1
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) White-fronted Parrot. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 28 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-fronted_Parrot
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1
