Blue-fronted Amazon parrots (Amazona aestiva)
Blue-fronted Amazon parrots (Amazona aestiva), endemic to South America and widely traded as a pet bird – free desktop wallpaper, size: 2048 x 1536
Blue-fronted Amazon parrots (Amazona aestiva), also known as the Turquoise-fronted Amazon, are endemic to some countries in South America. They got their name blue-fronted Amazon because of the blue marking on their head.
These parrots, mostly found in palm groves, savannas, woodlands and forests, have a breeding range spread over parts of Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. In addition to their natural habitats, they are also extensively captively bred and traded as pet parrots in many parts of the world.
The Blue-fronted Amazons are green in color with blue feathers on the forehead, yellowish on the face and crown with their beaks black. The male and female parrots of this species cannot be easily distinguished as there are no visible signs of sexual dimorphism to the human eye, though both the sexes can be easily identified from the differences in their plumages with spectrometric analysis.
These Turquoise-fronted Amazons make their nests in holes or cavities on tree trunks. The female lays three to five oval shaped white eggs. Their usual mating season is the spring when some of the parrots, especially the males, may show some aggressiveness.
Though these parrots are neither in the list of either the endangered or threatened species, there is a sharp decline in their population, possibly because they are treated as crop pests in their natural habitats in South America and possibly they are hunted or killed with pesticides. Another reason for their population decline can be that they are increasingly captured from the wild and heavily traded as pet birds.
Amazona aestiva is one of the most common and most loved Amazon parrots kept as pets or companion parrots. They are loved as pets because of their beautiful looks, friendly nature, ability to talk by mimicking the human voice and their proclivity for singing. They are also known to like playing with bird toys and similar interesting objects.
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