Yellow Headed Amazon Parrots 

The Yellow-headed Amazon is an endangered Amazon parrot of Mexico and northern Central America because of deforestation resulting in the loss of their nesting habitat, and the continued poaching and illegal trade are threats to this species survival. Measuring 15-17 inches in length, it is a stocky parrot with a yellow head, rounded wings, and a square tail. Their flight feathers are blackish to bluish violet with a red patch on the outer feathers. The base of the tail also has a red patch, which is usually hidden. The outer tail feathers have yellowish tips. Yellow headed Amazon parrots can live up to eighty years old

Their personalities make them highly sought-after pets and are considered to be excellent talkers. Although all Amazons are capable of talking not all parrots do. Yellow headed Amazon parrots are extremely intelligent, they like to test their owners’ patience and attract the attention of visitors, and they love an audience.  

The Yellow-headed and theYellow-naped Amazon  are often considered subspecies of the Yellow-crowned Parrot. Some agreee on that and some experts do not, so who really knows?

The Yellow-headed parrots body is bright green, with yellow on the head, dark scallops on the neck, red at the bend of the wing, and yellow thighs, the Yellow headed has more of the head yellow.

The Yellow crowned is distinguished by the amount of yellow on  the head with the yellow restricted to the crown-region (occasionally with a few random feathers around the eyes).  

Yellow-naped Amazon  is distinguished by its green forehead and crown and a yellow band across the lower nape and hindneck.

Yellow headed Amazon parrots are popular as pets but can be destructive.  Owners need to make sure their birds have plenty of chewing toys and branches.  Amazons enjoy chewing wood and should be provided with chunks of pine or fir wood for chewing. They also love branches with leaves which they benefit from the nutrients obtained from chewing leaves and green bark. Good types of branches to offer include willow, honeysuckle, eucalyptus, palms, bottle brush, acacias, and fruit woods.

Yellow headed Amazon parrots are very active they thrive in an area that allows them to fly and move around.  An aviary (sometimes known as flight cages) would be a huge advantage to have. An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds but unlike cages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where they can fly. Aviaries often contain plants and shrubbery to simulate a natural environment and should be equipped with perches at each end with open space in the middle for flight. Amazons prefer horizontal bars, as they like to climb. The size and the more active the bird is will help to determine the size the cage should be. The amount of time the bird will spend in the cage is another issue to consider when choosing a cage.

Yellow headed Amazon parrots have a stout, hooked beaks that they used for cracking the hard shells of seeds and nuts but they often use their beaks for climbing by gripping or hooking on branches and other supports. They will use their feet to hold food while eating they also use their feet to climb.

Nutrition is very important to health of your parrot. A proper diet  would consist of fresh vegetables and fruits, sprouted seeds and grains, and other whole foods will keep your parrot healthy. Pellets are only a small percentage of the total diet. A large variety of nutritious fresh foods would consist of seeds and grains, chopped leafy greens (kale and dandelion), beets, carrots, yams, celery, green beans, green peas, broccoli, cucumbers, and okra.

Parrots are good potential pets for those who have time and patience on their hands those that are kept as companions include large parrots such as Yellow headed Amazon, and African Greys. Learning early in life is important to all parrots, and much of that learning is social learning. How a parrot has been raised will significantly affect its personality. Parrots vary in their temperament, noise level, talking capability, attraction to people and care that they need.

Due to their sociable and affectionate nature, intelligence, bright colors, and ability to imitate human voices the Yellow headed Amazon parrots are popular as pets. They can be very easy to do quite a number of parrot tricks.  A common problem is those large parrots which are nice to hold and gentle as juveniles can mature into intelligent, complicated often demanding adults.

One aspect of owing a Amazon that is not covered in this article is caring for your parrot, so we recommend reading the article on parrot care  that we have prepared.

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