YELLOW-CROWNED PARROT

Yellow-crowned Amazon Parrots

More than 50 species of parrots found in the Peruvian Amazon, including the yellow-crowned Amazon . The yellow-crowned Amazon is a medium sized parrot known for their bright green feathers that have blue tips with red patched wings on them. They have white eye rings and a yellow crown on their head.

Native to the tropical regions of Central and South America. They are found in Panama, Colombia , Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru! Yellow-crowned parrots inhabit tropical forests , woodlands, mangroves, savannas and agricultural areas. They are secondary cavity nesters, utilizing hollow trees.

While known for their intelligence, Yellow-crowned parrots are also very active and social birds. They usually live in pairs or small groups. However, at times gather in large flocks in feeding areas. They communicate with loud calls and screeches, and have an amazing ability to mimmic human speech and other sounds.

These tropical birds are diurnal, meaning they exhibit high-energy , as well as, social activity during the day. They are extremely strong fliers, flying at high altitudes to cover long distances efficiently between foraging areas and roosts, using rapid, shallow wing beats to maintain speed and utilizing jetstreams to minimize effort. Flying high also keeps them out of range of many potentially predators like Boa constrictors, Large birds of prey, and nest predators like monkeys and toucans. As well as Intense, illegal pet trapping for pet trade , especially in Mexico and Peru, being the major cause of population decline.

Yellow-crowned Amazons are omnivores and are often seen foraging in flocks in the canopy . Consuming things like fruits, nuts, seeds, berries, blossoms and leaf buds. They are also known to feed on palm fruits, acacia, occasionally supplementing their diets for salt like and clay for nutrients. They climb from branch to branch for every bite, opposed to flying, and often gather in large communal feeding areas appearing loud , boisterous and playful.

At night, the parrots gather in large communal roosts of up to 30 or more birds and remain quiet and inactive. They engage in what is known as slow wave sleep, where they keep one eye open to partially stay alert. They also sleep on one leg, with the other tucked under their feathers and their heads tucked under a wing to blend into the canopy, generally sleeping from sunset to dawn.