Entrys, *Amazon of the week* Challenge..

[Jayd]

:laugh: Back online yea,. Ok, contestants please post your *Bird of the Week* entry here....Now tell every to come here and vote for you!!!!!!! Good luck and good job...Jay;) Extending till:Post till the 24th, and vote till the 28th!!!!!<br><br>Post edited by: Jayd, at: 2010/03/19 20:55

[Luvparrots]

The Saint Vincent Amazon

 

The Saint Vincent Amazon (Amazona guildingii, aka Guilding's Amazon) is the only parrot inhabiting the Island of St. Vincent in the Caribbean Lesser Antiilles. The plumage of this attractive species is variable, with virtually no two birds appearing alike. However, two distinct color morphs are clearly visible: a brown morph, and a green morph. Males and females look alike and there is no difference in plumage or size between the sexes.

 

http://www.parrots.org/index.php/parrotgallery/image_full/1381/

 

This large and very colorful amazon averages 15.75" to 16" in length from head to tail. The forehead, forecrown, lores (area between the eyes and bill on the side of a bird's head) and eye area of this amazon are yellowish-white merging into orange to back of the crown, cheeks and throat. The ear-coverts (feathers covering ears) and the rear of cheek are violet-blue. The nape (lower back of neck) is green to olive-green with bluish tinge and edged with black. The breast and abdomen are bronze-brownish, each feather with narrow black edging. In many birds, the abdomen has a greenish tinge. The under tail-coverts are greenish-yellow. The back, shoulders, lower back and upper tail-coverts are bronze-brown to olive-green. The upper tail-coverts have green tips. The edge of wings is orange. The outer primary wing feathers are dark green with green to violet-blue outer webs. The inner primary wing feathers are green. The primaries (longest wing feathers) are black with green to orange base with outer webs becoming centrally yellow to orange. The tips to outer webs have a violet-blue tinge. The outer secondaries are violet-blue with orange base. The inner secondaries are dark green with violet-blue tips. The secondary-coverts are orange-brown to olive-green with green base. The median and lesser wing-coverts are bronze-brown to olive-green. The lesser under wing-coverts are bronze-brown to green with green to pale blue edging. The greater under wing-coverts and underside of flight-feathers are yellow to green. The tail-feathers are violet-blue with orange base and broad yellow to orange tips. The bill is horn-colored and the irises are orange-red. Immature birds look like the adult, but their plumage is generally lighter and duller; and their irises are brown. Although the green morph is broadly similar in appearance, the upperparts are predominately dusky-green and the head is bluish white.

 

The following picture is of a Brown Morph:

 

http://www.parrots.org/index.php/parrotgallery/image_full/1379/

 

The following picture is of a Green Morph:

 

http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/ArchOLD-7/1188960346.jpg

 

The Saint Vincent Amazon's natural diet consists of seeds and nuts, fruits, berries, flowers and buds. In captivity the St. Vincent diet consists of a seed mix of safflower, oats, wheat, hemp, buckwheat, canary grass seed, millet and some sunflower seeds. A variety of fruits, such as apple, banana and orange and vegetables like carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers are generously suppled. Also sprouts and a small quantity of pine nuts are regularly provided. Peanuts are often offered as treats. Inactive St. Vincent amazons are inclined to obesity. Because St. Vincent Amazons are heavy bark/wood chewers. This need is taken into consideration in the avairy construction and the enclosures are generally made of steel. Plenty of branches should be provided to them to satisfy their urge to chew.

 

The St. Vincent Amazon is one of the world's rarest birds. It is the national bird of the 18 mile x 11 mile Island of St. Vincent and extensive measures have been made to protect it. In this regard, all land in the humid hill forests of the island above 1,000 feet in altitude is in a forest reserve. St. Vincent Amazons require nest holes for breeding and because of habitat destruction caused by national disasters such as hurricane and volcanic eruptions as well as the hunting and illegal trapping they are an endangered species. Although at this time it is believed there are fewer than 700-800 birds remaining in the wild, the St. Vincent parrot is hunted for it's edible flesh.

 

A St. Vincent Amazon spreading its colorful wings:

 

http://www.arkive.org/st-vincent-amazon/amazona-guildingii/image-G38537.html

 

St. Vincent parrots live in small groups except during the breeding season when the pairs become solitary. Their breeding season starts in spring. The hen usually lays a clutch of 2 to 3 eggs (the size of a large chestnut) of which 1 to 2 eggs are frequently infertile. She incubates the eggs for 25/26 days and the young leave the nest when they are about 9 to 10 weeks old. It is thought that 10 to 20 young parrots are captured each year, despite laws regulating private ownership of parrots on the island and requiring permits for their export.

 

The calls of the Saint Vincent Amazon are a variety of calls including yapping, honking, shrieking, bubbling and squawking. They are medium-noisy to very noisy. Their calls can be heard mostly in the early mornings or late afternoons. They are excellent talkers and their natural loud call can be replaced with human speech with a little bit of training. Fortunately, they are quick learners. St. Vincent Amazons quickly grow trusting with their caretaker and they enjoy human companionship. They like the water and enjoy bathing.

 

Because the St. Vincent Amazon has a slow reproductive rate, rebuilding the population takes a long time. In the mid-1900, it became increasingly evident to all that the immediate solution to save endangered species is through captive breeding programs. There are now captive breeding programs working with the St. Vincent Amazon in Europe and the United States. The first (world) captive breeding success was achieved by Bob Berry at the Houston Zoo on April 25, 1972. The second was in 1982 at the Life Fellowship Bird Sanctuary in Florida which was run by Romon Noegel. On May 28, 2008, a third St. Vincent parrot was hatched at the Houston zoo which is the only US zoo which has successfully breed St. Vincent Amazons.

 

Baby St. Vincent Amazon:

 

 

Newly hatched St. Vincent's Amazon:

 

http://www.arkive.org/st-vincent-amazon/amazona-guildingii/video-15.html

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Source: The St. Vincent Amazon, By Wayne Edwin Smyth

Living the Scientific Life

AvianWeb.com

World Parrot Trust (Sam Williams~picture of Brown Morph)

Video: BBC Natural History Unit, c/o BBC Motion Gallery, The Garden House<br><br>Post edited by: luvparrots, at: 2010/03/21 21:23

[Jayd]

Thank you, the ball is rolling, lets hear from the other contestants...

Jayd:)

[SunnyBird]

EXTINCT:

The Guadeloupe Amazon

(Amazona violacea)

 

Island birds are highly vulnerable to extinction, originally due to loss of habitat and, in the case of parrots, also hunting for food. Although fewer than 20% of all bird species are found on islands, more than 90% of those that have become extinct in historical times were island forms. In the Caribbean sad examples are provided by the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French Antilles. Deforestation was almost complete there by the 18th century. The indigenous species that vanished with the forests will remain unknown but it seems likely that, on both islands, a parrot was among their number. The parrots of Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent have survived because they were fortunate enough to live in mountainous areas. Had those islands been flat, neither the forests nor the parrots would have survived to this day.

 

Take the Guadeloupe Amazon (Amazona violacea) which the naturalist Buffon mentions “is very rare in Guadeloupe today”. That statement was written in 1779. As you can imagine, this bird is long since extinct.

 

It was first described by Dutertre (1654), translated from the French: “The Parrot of Guadeloupe is almost as large as a fowl. The beak and the eye are bordered with carnation. All the feathers of the head, neck and under parts are of a violet color, mixed with a little green and black, and changeable like the throat of a pigeon. All the upper part of the back is brownish-green. The long quills are black, the others yellow, green and red, and it has on the wing-coverts two rosettes of rose color.”

 

 

Dutertre described the cere and orbital ring as red; this would be unique in an Amazon. This casts just a hint of doubt on his description. However, he must have been describing a live bird because he wrote: “When it erects the feathers of the neck, it makes a beautiful ruff about its head, which it seems to admire, as a peacock its tail. It has a strong voice, talks very distinctly, and learns quickly if taken young.”

 

The ability to erect its neck feathers and its plumage coloration, suggest that it was very close to the Imperial in appearance, which is likely considering how close Guadeloupe is to Dominica. Regarding the iridescence, Clark (1905) pointed out that iridescence can be seen in several species of Amazons in the wild, notably Guildingii and Imperialis.

 

Brisson (1760) described the violacea as follows: “Head, throat and neck ashy-bluish, varied with green and black. Back and rump green. Upper tail coverts and scapulars green. Under parts, sides, thighs, and under tail coverts ashy bluish. Wings green, varied with red and yellow.” This description has the ring of truth, the kind that one might make if the bird was in front of the person writing it.

 

 

There are some notations regarding the “habits” of the Guadeloupe Parrot which were made by Dutertre and which most of us who have come to love our companion parrots and respect their intelligence will find rather shocking, however we must take it in context with the era in which it was written (the 1600s). It sheds light on how these beautiful creatures were viewed and what mostly led to their extinction.

 

“The Guadeloupe Parrot lives on the wild fruits which grow in the forests, except it does not eat the machioneel [a poisonous tree]. Cotton seed intoxicates it, and affects it as wine does a man, and for that reason they eat it with great eagerness. The flavor of its flesh is excellent, but changeable according to the kind of food. If it eats cashews nuts, the flesh has an agreeable flavor of garlic; if ‘bois de irdes’ [a kind of wood], it has a flavor of cloves and cinnamon, if on bitter fruits, it becomes bitter like gall. If it feeds on genips [a Caribbean fruit], the flesh becomes wholly black, but that does not prevent it having a very fine flavor. When it feeds on guavas it is at its best, and then the French commit great havoc among them.”

 

A large parrot known to be good eating could have been rapidly exterminated on a small island where the forests were dwindling fast. In 1779 the naturalist Buffon wrote that it was “very rare in Guadeloupe today” and commented on the love of the French colonists for it as a culinary item. How sad that this was the aspect of a magnificent bird that they found the most remarkable.

 

How sad that, today, 250 years later, we have still not managed to educate mankind to respect the creatures we share this planet with.

 

.......................

 

Source: Amazon Parrots: Aviculture, Trade and Conservation, by Rosemary Low (2005)

 

http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/parrots/amazon/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guadeloupe_Amazon

 

http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30082&m=0

[Jayd]

:ohmy: Jillybeanz post post post;)

[JillyBeanz]

Amazona Leucocephala (Cuban Amazon)

 

As the name indicates, the Cuban Amazon parrot is found only on the island of Cuba.

 

 

The remaining numbers of this beautiful Amazon parrot in the wild are so low that it is listed with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (C.I.T.E.S.), as an Appendix I species. Appendix I species are those that are threatened with extinction.

 

Unfortunately, this decline in the Cuban Parrot population is the result from agricultural conversions, hurricane damage to nesting trees, trapping of live birds for local and international trade, and pushing over nest trees to obtain chicks for trade.

 

The Cuban Parrot is recognized by its pinky-red throat and cheeks, white around the eyes and fore crown, a purple-pink belly, and a light yellow beak.

 

This picture is of an adult bird, landing on a pine tree, looking for a feed:

 

 

Their diet consists mainly of the nectar from the base of flowers in the Coral trees.

 

 

Flocks of the Cuban Parrot documented living in the Humbolt National Park in Cuba, give hope that environmental educational programs are convincing people that Cuban Parrots should be kept in the wild.

 

Cuban Amazons are known for laying their eggs in limestone holes in the ground. It is thought that they feel their chicks are safer from predators in a solid hole, rather than a tree hollow, which is open to climbing predators.

 

 

It is reported that Fidel Castro owned a couple - but I couldn't find a picture of the two together (rather surprisingly) :laugh:

[judygram]

Great entries everyone, this will be a tough one.:whistle:

[pearllyn]

I love them all! How do we vote please?

[judygram]

Vote here in this thread Lyn:

 

http://www.greyforums.net/forums/amazon-room/187402-vote-for-amazon-challenge.html#187559

[Jayd]

Thank you Judy, Karma Jay

[pearllyn]

Thanks Judy.