Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

The Red-Lored Par­rot is found in North, Cen­tral and South Amer­ica, par­tic­u­larly from east­ern Mex­ico tho­rugh west­ern Ecuador. Most Red-Lored Par­rots are found in Panama. One sub­species, A. a. di­adema, is re­stricted to north­west­ern Brazil and oc­curs only be­tween the Upper Ama­zon and Negro Rivers. They live in the canopy of trop­i­cal rain­forests. (For­shaw 1977, Hogle Zoo 1999)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native
• neotropical
  • native

Habi­tat

These par­rots are ar­bo­real and live pri­mar­ily in rain­forests. They pre­fer to live in wild areas. (Brooke and Birk­head, 1991; Ridgely, 1981; Utah's Hogle Zoo, 1999)

• Habitat Regions
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• rainforest

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Like all par­rots, red-lored ama­zons have a large head and a short neck. This par­rot is about 34 cen­time­ters long. The feath­ers are mostly green, but the fore­head and lores are red, hence the name, red-lored par­rot. The red area on its fore­head is very hard to see mak­ing this species of par­rot hard to iden­tify. Be­cause of this they are often con­fused with other species of Ama­zona. Feath­ers on the top and back of the head are tipped in lilac-blue. The wing feath­ers often also bear bright red, yel­low, black, and white high­t­lights. The upper cheeks are yel­low and the largest wing feath­ers are also often mostly yel­low. They have short wings, but can fly pow­er­fully. The tail is green, square, and tipped with yel­low­ish green and blue. The coun­tour feath­ers are sparse, hard and glossy with pow­der­down in be­tween them. The bill is grey with a yel­low­ish horn on the upper mandible. Above the upper bill they have a fleshy, often feath­ered pro­jec­tion called a cere. The iris of its eye is or­ange. Its legs are green­ish grey. Sexes are monomor­phic. Like all par­rots, this par­rot has very strong zy­go­dactyl feet. ("En­cy­clo­pe­dia Amer­i­cana", 2000; Camp­bell and Lack, 1985; For­shaw, 1977; Ridgely, 1981; Utah's Hogle Zoo, 1999)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Average length

  34 cm

  13.39 in

Re­pro­duc­tion

These par­rots nest in hol­low trees and usu­ally lay 2-5 eggs. The egg shells are white. They hatch in 20 and 32 days. Hatch­lings are blind and naked. The fe­male par­rot feeds and broods them for the first 10 days and later the male aids her in the care. After three weeks the young are ready to leave the nest. Some par­rots stay with their par­ents until the fol­low­ing mat­ing sea­son. ("Aca­d­e­mic Amer­i­can En­cy­clo­pe­dia", 1983; Ridgely, 1981; Utah's Hogle Zoo, 1999)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Range eggs per season

  2 to 5

• Range time to hatching

  20 to 32 days

• Average fledging age

  3 weeks

Lifes­pan/Longevity

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  27 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  27 years

  AnAge

Be­hav­ior

These par­rots are often seden­tary. This means that they live in the same place all year long. Daily they move around be­tween roost­ing and nest­ing places. They are gre­gar­i­ous, mean­ing that they live in flocks. Dur­ing the mat­ing sea­son they live in pairs. They prob­a­bly mate for life and are often seen fly­ing in pairs. Along with mat­ing, the pair en­gage in mu­tual preen­ing, or clean­ing each other's feath­ers, and part­ner feed­ing. The par­rot's calls are screech­ing, loud, and un­melodic. They are the strongest calls of Panama's three species of Ama­zona. They are often noisy, un­less rest­ing or eat­ing. These par­rots are highly in­tel­li­gent. They fly with shal­low stiff wing-strokes that make this par­tic­u­lar species very easy to rec­og­nize in the air. These par­rots are good mim­ics, though only in cap­tiv­ity. They use their beaks and feet to climb trees and husk seeds. They will also test new sur­faces using their beaks. Al­though de­struc­tion of their habi­tat, and cap­tur­ing for pets are caus­ing these species to de­te­ri­o­rate, there are also many preda­tors of this bird. Other than man, mon­keys, snakes, and rap­tors also hunt the Red-Lored Par­rot. (Rid­g­ley 1981; Camp­bell and Lack 1985; Hogle Zoo 1999)

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• motile

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

The Red-Lored Par­rot is veg­e­tar­ian. It en­joys eat­ing seeds, fruit, nuts, berries, greens, blos­soms and buds. The par­rot has a very strong mandible that is curved to fit over the lower mandible. With this beak, the par­rot is able to crack nuts with ease. The par­rot's tongue is also very pow­er­ful. The tongue along with the beak and jaws are used to husk seeds be­fore they are eaten. The zy­go­dactyl foot is help­ful in ma­nip­u­lat­ing food as it eats. When it eats it is usu­ally up in trees and is un­usu­ally quiet for its na­ture.

(Camp­bell and Lack 1985; Brooke and Birk­head 1991; Hogle Zoo 1999; En­cy­clo­pe­dia Amer­i­cana 2000)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

The Red-Lored Par­rot, like other par­rots, is a very pop­u­lar pet. In cap­tiv­ity, it can live up to 80 years. From youth, they are very eas­ily tamed. Their an­tics are fun to watch, and this makes their de­mand as house­hold pets higher. The Red-Lored Par­rot has been com­pared to the African Grey Par­rot, as both are very suc­cess­ful at mim­ic­k­ing the human voice. This is the main rea­son there is a de­mand for these par­rots.

(En­cy­clo­pe­dia Amer­i­cana 2000; Brooke and Birk­head 1991)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

These par­rots do not live in set­tled areas around hu­mans. There­fore they do not fre­quently come in con­tact with hu­mans. When they do, it is be­cause hu­mans are hunt­ing them. There is more dam­age done to the par­rot pop­u­la­tion by hu­mans than dam­age done by par­rots to human pop­u­la­tions.

(Ridgely 1981)

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Al­though the Red-Lored Par­rot is not en­dan­gered, it is on its way to being en­dan­gered. The forests that this par­rot live in are slow­ely being de­stroyed. Peo­ple also hunt this par­rot for a food source and for its col­or­ful feath­ers that are used in cer­e­mo­nial dances. The high de­mand for these an­i­mals as pets has also threat­ened them. In order to con­serve these an­i­mals, the rain­for­est must be main­tained.(Brooke and Birk­head 1991)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  Appendix II

Other Com­ments

There are ap­proi­mately 50 species of Ama­zon par­rots. (Hogle Zoo 1999)

Con­trib­u­tors

Meghan Rit­ter (au­thor), Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor, Phil Myers (ed­i­tor), Mu­seum of Zo­ol­ogy, Uni­ver­sity of Michi­gan-Ann Arbor.

Ref­er­ences

1983. Aca­d­e­mic Amer­i­can En­cy­clo­pe­dia. New York, NY: Groiler In­cor­po­rated.

2000. En­cy­clo­pe­dia Amer­i­cana. New York, NY: Groiler In­cor­po­rated.

Brooke, M., T. Birk­head. 1991. The Cam­bridge En­cy­clo­pe­dia of Or­nithol­ogy. Cam­bridge, MA: Cam­bridge Uni­ver­sity Press.

Camp­bell, B., E. Lack. 1985. A Dic­tio­nary of Birds. Philidel­phia, PA: Buteo Books.

For­shaw, J. 1977. Par­rots of the World. Nep­tune, NJ: T.F.H. Pub­li­ca­tions.

Ridgely, R. 1981. A Guide to the Birds of Panama. Prince­ton, NJ: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Utah's Hogle Zoo, 1999. "Red-Lored Ama­zon Par­rot" (On-line). Ac­cessed March 12, 2001 at http://​www.​hoglezoo.​org/​birds/​redlored.​htm.