The Yellow-headed Parrot (Amazona oratrix), also known as the Double Yellow-headed Amazon, etc., is an endangered amazon parrot of tropical America. It is a popular pet, considered an excellent talker.

This species is part of a complex that also includes the Yellow-crowned Parrot (A. ochrocephala) and the Yellow-naped Parrot (A. auropalliata). The complex is considered one species by some authorities and divided in different ways by others—Howell and Webb describe the situation as "a taxonomic headache". However, oratrix usually includes, and is often limited to,IUCN Red List of Threatened Species - Amazona oratrix (accessed May 2, 2006)^, Yellow-headed Parrot (Amazona oratrix) (pdf file) (accessed May 2, 2006) the populations of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and northern Honduras.

The Yellow-headed Parrot averages 38–43 cm (15–17 in) long. The shape is typical of amazons, with a robust build, rounded wings, and a square tail. The body is bright green, with yellow on the head, dark scallops on the neck, red at the bend of the wing, and yellow thighs. The flight feathers are blackish to bluish violet with a red patch on the outer secondaries. The base of the tail also has a red patch, which is usually hidden. The outer tail feathers have yellowish tips.

The bill is horn-colored, darker in immatures of the Belizean and Honduran subspecies. The eye ring is whitish in Mexican birds and grayish in others. The most conspicuous geographical difference is the amount of yellow. In adults, the head and upper chest are yellow in the subspecies of the Tres Marías Islands in the Mexican state of Nayarit (tresmariae); just the head in the widespread subspecies of Mexico (oratrix); just the crown in Belize, Guatemala, and far northwestern Honduras (belizensis); and the crown and nape in the Sula Valley of Honduras (hondurensis, which thus resembles the Yellow-naped Parrot). Immatures have less yellow than adults; they attain adult plumage in 2 to 4 years.

Wild birds give low-pitched, sometimes human-sounding screams, but often fly silently (unlike many other parrots). Howell and Webb render some calls as "a rolled kyaa-aa-aaah and krra-aah-aa-ow, a deep, rolled ahrrrr or ahrhrrrr," etc.

This species lives in riparian forest and areas with scattered trees, as well as evergreen forest in Belize and mangroves in Guatemala. It occurs in ones and twos, in small groups, and occasionally in big flocks. The range formerly included both coastal slopes of Mexico from the Tres Marías Islands and Jalisco to Oaxaca and from Nuevo León to northern Chiapas and southwestern Tabasco, as well as a disjunct area including most of Belize, and another comprising a small part of northeastern Guatemala and northwestern Honduras. However, their numbers have been reduced drastically—by 90 percent, to 7,000, from the mid 1970s to 1994, and by 68 percent from 1994 to 2004—because of capture for the pet trade and habitat destruction.

As pets, they are considered loud, active, intelligent, and willful, liking to test their owners and to attract the attention of guests. They need roomy cages that accommodate their desire to climb.Double Yellow Head Main Page from CentralPets.com (accessed May 2, 2006)^, Double Yellow-Headed Amazon Parrot from Aves International (a commercial site), with photographs including captive-bred young (accessed May 2, 2006)

The origin of the common epithet "Double Yellow-headed" is obscure, but the Hogle Zoo page notes that when excited this species raises its neck and crown feathers, making the head seem to double in size. www.hoglezoo.org: Yellow-headed Amazon Parrot (accessed May 2, 2006)

References