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Festive Amazon | Amazona festiva
Blauwbaardamazone | Amazona festiva | Papagaio-da-várzea
The Festive Amazon is an amazon of the flooded forest and river islands along the large rivers of western Amazonia. The red lower back and rump, visible mainly in flight, separate it from the other amazons. At dusk pairs and flocks fly with fast, shallow wingbeats to communal roosts on islands in the river.
Voice
A hoarse, somewhat nasal call such as wa-ak, and rolling cries repeated in flight; pairs keep in constant contact. At roosts flocks call for long periods at dusk.
Recording: GABRIEL LEITE — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
34 cm, with a medium-length, rounded tail. The plumage is green. A narrow band across the forehead and lores is dark red, blue runs above and behind the eye, and the chin and throat are also bluish. The lower back and rump are scarlet, often hidden under the wings in perched birds. There is no red speculum; the flight feathers are partly blue. The bill is dark grey. The sexes are alike. Juveniles have less red on the head and back.
Confusion species
Orange-winged Amazon Amazona amazonica has a yellow and blue face, an orange speculum and no red back. Yellow-crowned Amazon Amazona ochrocephala has yellow on the crown and a red speculum. Mealy Amazon Amazona farinosa is larger, with a powdery grey-green back and a red speculum. Short-tailed Parrot Graydidascalus brachyurus is smaller, with a very short tail and no red or blue on the head.
Habitat
Flooded forest (várzea), river islands, gallery forest and forest edges along large, silt-laden rivers, also palm swamp forest, in the lowlands up to roughly 300 m. It eats fruit, seeds and flowers in the canopy. It nests in tree cavities.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the far south-east along the Amazon, and locally in the east along the Meta and Orinoco, where the form bodini lives, often treated as a separate species. In Ecuador rare in the eastern lowlands, along the Napo and Aguarico. In Peru along the Amazon and its large tributaries in the north-east, such as the Napo, Marañón and Ucayali. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area along the Amazon in Brazil and along the Orinoco in Venezuela.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
From a boat on the Amazon and Napo near Iquitos in Peru, especially at dusk, when pairs and flocks fly low over the river to roosts on river islands. In flight look for the red lower back.
Conservation status
Not Evaluated in this taxonomic treatment. The species is locally common along the large rivers, but is trapped for the cage-bird trade and hunted; logging of flooded forest is a threat.
Scientific name
Amazona festiva | (Linnaeus, 1758)
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 as Psittacus festivus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Amazona was introduced in 1830 by Lesson. The genus name is a Latinised form of Amazone, the name the French naturalist Buffon gave these parrots in the 18th century, believing they came from the Amazon jungles. The species name comes from Latin festivus, 'festive, cheerful', from festum, 'feast'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Amazon River, Brazil.