Amazons parrots are intelligent handsome birds, renown for their talking ability, have outgoing personalities, and are very social. They adapt quickly to their cage and can be quite playful, with a dexterous agility for climbing about their cage or playpen. Their personality is such that they will form a close, loving bond with their keeper and become a life-long companion.
A list of Amazon parrots that are highly popular and sought out include:
- Double Yellow-Headed Amazon or Yellow-headed Amazon Amazona oratrix
- Blue-fronted Amazon Amazona aestiva
- Lilac-crowned Amazon Amazona finschi
- White-fronted Amazon Amazona albifron
- Green-cheeked Amazon Amazona viridigenalis
- Mealy Amazon Amazona farinose
- Orange-winged Amazon Amazona amazonica
- Red-lored Amazon Amazona autumnalis
- Yellow-crowned Amazon Amazona ochrocephala
- Yellow-naped Amazon Amazona auropalliata
Amazon parrots are among the more popular medium-sized parrot species, which might have something to do with their gregarious personalities. They are often described as boisterous, playful, and outgoing — some even like to sing. Male Amazons have a reputation for exhibiting “macho” behavior — they might flare their tail feathers, pin their eyes and “strut” across the floor or table top.
Active and comical, Blue Fronted Amazons are natural performers. They love to be around their owners and will “ham it up” for extra attention. Prolific talkers and singers, they vocalize often and can be very loud.
Personality & Behavior
Amazon parrots typically play hard. An Amazon parrot might swing upside down from the cage, delight in destroying their wooden toys and even wrestle their owner’s hand with their beak. An Amazon parrot’s mood is one of the easiest to read among parrot species because it is excellent at expressing itself through its body language: pinning eyes, raised head/neck feathers, fanned tail feathers and broad stance, for example, indicates a highly excitable Amazon parrot.
An Amazon owner should pay close attention to his or her Amazon parrot’s body language to be fully attuned to the bird’s mood. An excitable Amazon parrot might be telling you that it doesn’t wish to be handled, and failure to recognize this might result in a bite. An Amazon parrot can also go into “play overload” during play, especially when beak wrestling with you. Stop the play session to give your Amazon parrot time to calm down as soon as you see overly excited body language. Male Amazon parrots, especially male double-yellow-headed Amazons, yellow-naped Amazons and Blue-fronted Amazons are said to be more aggressive than females of their species.
Types of Amazon Parrots
Types of Amazon Parrots vary in a number of factors. These include size, coloration, sexual dimorphism, and ease of breeding. Most of these factors make only a slight difference when determining which species makes the best pet bird. All the amazons are intelligent and have, depending on the individual bird itself, an excellent ability to talk. They can all be affectionate, loyal companions, and they are all long-lived. However, there are some interesting differences that are worth noting.
In size Amazon birds range from a medium to a fairly large parrot. The White-fronted Amazon Amazona albifrons, is the smallest, reaching only 10″ (25 cm) in size. That is quite petite when compared to a number of the larger types of Amazon Parrots, like the Mealy Amazon Amazona farinose which reaches 15″ (38cm).
Many Amazons are threatened with extinction, and breeding Amazon birds is helping preserve some species and also helps reduce the number of wild caught birds. However, some species breed more readily in captivity than others. The White-fronted Amazon is the only species in this genus that is sexually dimorphic, with males and females being distinguishable visually. The other types of Amazon parrots will need to be sexed by a surgical probe, endoscopy, a DNA test, or a chromosomal analysis. The sexes must be confirmed and the pair must be harmonious, bonded with each other.
Amazon parrots are mostly green birds, but many species have incredible color accents.