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Red-necked Amazon | Amazona arausiaca
Roodkeelamazone | Amazona gorjirroja
The Red-necked Amazon is one of the two amazon parrots of Dominica and occurs nowhere else. Locally it is called jaco. It is smaller and more numerous than the Imperial Amazon or sisserou, with which it shares the montane forest. After Hurricane David in 1979 only about 150 remained; protection allowed the population to recover.
Voice
Rough, squawking calls with a high-pitched edge, usually in two-syllable notes such as kreh-ah, in flight and around the nest tree. Most vocal from dawn to about ten o'clock and after four in the afternoon.
Recording: Garrett Yocklin — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
About 40 cm, bulky, with a fairly short, broad tail. Mostly dark bottle-green. Forehead, lores and the area around the eye are violet-blue, and the feathers of crown and neck have dark edges. The throat has a red to orange-red patch that varies in size. There is a red speculum in the secondaries. The tail is green with a yellow band. Bill and legs are grey. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
On Dominica only the Imperial Amazon Amazona imperialis: it is clearly larger, with a dark purple head, neck and underparts and a dark reddish-brown tail. In flight the green body and red speculum are the best features of the Red-necked Amazon. St. Lucia Amazon A. versicolor and St. Vincent Amazon A. guildingii do not occur on Dominica.
Habitat
The canopy of old-growth rainforest and montane rainforest, especially on the slopes of Morne Diablotin and in Morne Trois Pitons National Park; also peripheral forest and adjacent farmland at lower elevations. It eats fruit, including citrus, flowers, buds and seeds. It breeds from January to March in cavities in large old trees, and the young fledge from May to July. Pairs stay faithful to their nest site for years. Outside the breeding season flocks of thirty or more birds wander in search of food.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Endemic to Dominica. The core range is in the north around Morne Diablotin and in the centre in Morne Trois Pitons. As the population recovered, the species also appeared in lower forest and farmland towards the north-west and north-east coasts. It does not occur outside Dominica.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along the Syndicate trail on the western flank of Morne Diablotin, early in the morning, when the birds fly calling over the forest and land in the treetops. Viewpoints above the canopy give the best chance; Imperial Amazon is sometimes seen there too.
Conservation status
Vulnerable (VU). Hunting and capture for the trade were formerly the main threats. After Hurricane David the population grew from about 150 birds to 750–800 in 2003 and about 1,200 in 2017. Hurricane Maria hit Dominica hard that same year; the species survived, but the current population is estimated at 850–1,000 mature birds. Hurricanes and forest clearance for farming remain the main threats.
Scientific name
Amazona arausiaca | (Müller, 1776)
Müller described the species in 1776 as Psittacus arausiacus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Amazona was introduced in 1830 by Lesson. Amazona comes from 'Amazone', the French name Buffon gave to various tropical American parrots because they came from the Amazon region. arausiaca probably derives from Arausio, the Roman name of Orange in southern France: Statius Müller called the bird 'Pomeranzen-Parkit' ('orange parakeet'), after the orange-red throat. The specimen the first description was based on came from Dominica.