The blue-cheeked amazon (''Amazona dufresniana''), also known as blue-cheeked parrot or Dufresne's amazon, is a

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittaco ...

found in northeast

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

in eastern

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

, the

Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

and possibly far northern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It lives in forest and

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

woodlands up to .

Description

It is about long. Its coloring is mostly green, with blue cheeks from around the eye to the neck (less on young), a yellow-orange

wing speculum The speculum is a patch, often distinctly coloured, on the secondary wing feathers, or ''remiges'', of some birds. Examples of the colour(s) of the speculum in a number of ducks are: * Common teal and green-winged teal: Iridescent green edged ...

, a yellowish crown, and orange

lores Lores may refer to: * Lore (anatomy) * Lores (surname) Lores is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Enrique Lores (born 1964/65), Spanish business executive *Horacio Lores, Argentine politician *Julio Lores (1908–1947), Peruvi ...

(the region between the eye and bill on the side of a bird's head). The binomial of this species commemorates the French zoologist

Louis Dufresne Louis Dufresne (18 January 1752, Champien, near Peronne – 11 October 1832) was a French ornithologist and taxidermist. Louis Dufresne was one of the naturalists on board the ''Astrolabe'', which accompanied by the ''Boussole'', left Brest in ...

. Now

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

, it formerly included the

red-browed amazon The red-browed amazon (''Amazona rhodocorytha'') is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It is endemic to Atlantic Forest in eastern Brazil. It has been considered a subspecies of the blue-cheeked amazon (''Amazona dufresniana''), but ...

as a subspecies. This species appears to live in pairs in the interior of tropical and subtropical forests while breeding. During the summer, Blue-Cheeked Amazon parrots migrate in flocks of varying size to coastal areas. In July and August, Blue-cheeked amazons move irregularly to coastal regions.

References

*Juniper & Parr (1998) ''Parrots: A Guide to Parrots of the World''; .

blue-cheeked amazon The blue-cheeked amazon (''Amazona dufresniana''), also known as blue-cheeked parrot or Dufresne's amazon, is a parrot found in northeast South America in eastern Venezuela, the Guianas and possibly far northern Brazil. It lives in forest and sava ...

Parrots of South America Birds of the Guianas

Taxa named by George Shaw {{parrot-stub