Red-tailed Amazon
Amazona brasiliensis
Large parrot restricted to coastal forests and mangroves of southeast Brazil. Mainly green with a red forehead and purplish cheeks and throat. The tail is yellow tipped with a narrow red band. May be confused with Red-browed Parrot, especially in flight, but lacks that species’ red wing patches.
Identification
Red-tailed amazons weigh around 425 g (15.0 oz) and are approximately 35 cm (14 in) long. As expected from its common name, it has a broad red band on its tail, but as it largely is limited to the inner webs of the feathers, it is mainly visible from below or when the tail is spread open. Additionally, the tail has a broad yellow tip, and the outer rectrices are dark purplish-blue at the base. The remaining plumage is green, while the throat, cheeks and auriculars are purple-blue, the forecrown is red, and the rectrices are broadly tipped dark blue. It has a yellowish bill with a blackish tip to the upper mandible, a pale gray eye ring, and orange irises. Juveniles have a duller plumage and brown irises.
Taxonomy
In 1751 the English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the red-tailed amazon in the fourth volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. He used the English name "The Brasilian green parrot". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a live bird that was displayed at the shop of a bird-cage maker in London. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the tenth edition, he placed the red-tailed amazon with the other parrots in the genus Psittacus. Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name Psittacus brasiliensis and cited Edwards' work. The red-tailed amazon is now one of around 30 parrots placed in the genus Amazona that was introduced by the French naturalist René Lesson in 1830.
- Scientific name
- Amazona brasiliensis
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Amazona
Range and habitat
The red-tailed amazon is associated with the Atlantic Forest system, and lives in forests, woodlands and mangroves near the coast. This species is almost entirely restricted to lowlands, typically occurring at altitudes below 200 meters (660 feet) above sea-level, though sometimes reaching altitudes up to 700 m (2,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: rising.
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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