The Saint Vincent amazon (''Amazona guildingii''), also known as Saint Vincent parrot, is a large, approximately long, multi-colored

amazon parrot Amazon parrots are parrots in the genus ''Amazona''. They are medium-sized, short-tailed parrots native to the Americas, with their range extending from South America to Mexico and the Caribbean. ''Amazona'' is one of the 92 genera of parrots t ...

with a yellowish white, blue and green head, greenish-bronze upperparts

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

, and violet blue-green wings.

Description

The bird is a long, mostly green, multi-colored amazon parrot with a yellowish white, blue and green head, greenish-bronze upperparts, grey feet, reddish eye, and violet blue-green wings. Its tail feathers are blue with broad yellow tips. There is a less yellow-brown morph and a less common green morph. Both sexes are similar. The young has lighter plumage and brown iris.

Range

The Saint Vincent amazon is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the heavily forested mountains of the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

island of Saint Vincent in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, nuts, flowers and seeds. The female usually lays one to two

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

Conservation

The Nicholls' Wildlife Aviary Complex, located within the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Botanic Gardens of Saint Vincent maintains a vital captive breeding and conservation program to conserve the St Vincent Parrot.

Threats and status

Hunting for food, trapping for the cage-bird trade and habitat loss were the principal causes of this species' decline. Deforestation has been the result of forestry activities, the expansion of banana cultivation, charcoal production, the loss of nesting-trees felled by trappers seeking young birds for trade, and natural events such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions.Snyder, N.; McGowan, P.; Gilardi, J.; Grajal, A. 2000. Parrots: status survey and conservation action plan 2000-2004. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK The introduced

nine-banded armadillo The nine-banded armadillo (''Dasypus novemcinctus''), also called the nine-banded long-nosed armadillo or common long-nosed armadillo, is a species of armadillo native to North America, North, Central America, Central, and South America, making ...

(''Dasypus novemcinctus''), undermines large trees causing them to topple, reducing the number of suitable nest trees.Culzac-Wilson, L. (2005) Species conservation plan for the St. Vincent Parrot Amazona guildingii. Loro Parque Fundacion, Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. A cross-country road is planned, funded by the Taiwanese government, which would destroy large areas of suitable habitat and increase deforestation rates. The genetic isolation of the separate sub-populations may present further cause for concern. The small population of captive birds at the Graeme Hall Sanctuary in Barbados is at very high risk. This is due to the lethargy of the Barbados Government in working with the St. Vincent Government and the owner of the Graeme Hall Sanctuary to move the birds to an off-shore island or even back to St. Vincent. Increased raids and poaching at the Sanctuary, the deliberate cutting off of the Sanctuary's water supply, and little or no support from the local Police when raids occur, all mean that this small population is unlikely to survive. Due to all of these contributing factors, the St. Vincent Parrot is considered Vulnerable on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Relocation of Endangered Parrots From Graham Hall Sanctuary Delayed by Barbados Ministry of Environment
{{Taxonbar, from=Q845184 Saint Vincent amazon Fauna of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent amazon Endemic birds of the Caribbean Saint Vincent amazon