Yellow-headed Amazons by Ken _Gilliland

DAZ|Studio • Animals • posted on Sep 27, 2022

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

From my just released, "Parrots v5: Amazons of the World Part 1". Part 2 will be released in a few weeks... The Yellow-headed Amazon parrot is found on the 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. There are four subspecies of this parrot and the one pictured above is the tresmariae race. The “Tres Marias” Amazon is found on Tres Marías Island, off the west-central coast of Mexico. Race tresmariae has longer wings than the nominate (in male), more bluish-green underparts, more extensive yellow on neck and, especially, throat, paler green upper parts, more frequent yellow tips to wing-coverts, inner secondaries and tail, and can show odd red feathers on head when compared to the nominate race. This Amazon parrot (all 4 subspecies) is endangered. The main reason for that is their vocal abilities are generally considered to be bested only by the African Grey. Add to that, their unique and colorful personalities, all together, it makes them highly desirable pets. Even though trapping Amazon parrots in the wild is illegal in most countries, trappings still happen unfettered due to lack of enforcement. Their numbers in the wild have been reduced by 90% from 70,000 to 7,000 (mid 1970s to 1994) and to 4,000 by 2004 because of capture for the black market pet trade and habitat destruction. Poachers usually hack at the nest site with a machete to steal parrots, which is especially destructive because habitat is lost at the same time that the wild parrot population is reduced. An estimated 90% of poached Amazons die before they are sold.