Yellow-naped Amazon

Overview

The Yellow-naped Amazon inhabits the Pacific-slope dry forests and adjacent woodlands from southern Mexico to Costa Rica. It is a large, heavy-billed Amazon whose plumage is almost entirely green apart from a signature nape patch.

• Thick-set body with a large grey-black bill
• Short, squared tail typical of Amazon parrots
• Bare whitish eye-ring visible at close range

Feather Identification

Contour feathers are a uniform mid-to-dark green, each often edged in a thin darker line that produces a subtly scaled texture on the back and wing coverts. The defining mark is the yellow nape patch, a crescent of yellow feathers across the back of the neck that contrasts sharply with the green crown and mantle.

• Flight feathers: Dark green primaries, often with blackish tips; a red patch may show in the secondaries in flight
• Tail feathers: Green with a paler yellow-green tip
• Head feathers: Entirely green apart from the nape patch, distinguishing it from Amazons with a yellow crown or head

The nape (rather than crown or head) placement of yellow separates this species from the Double Yellow-headed Amazon, which shows yellow covering the whole head.

Sexes are alike in plumage. The yellow nape patch is reduced or largely absent in young birds and develops with maturity over a few years, so juveniles can appear almost entirely green. Adults molt gradually through the year rather than in one synchronized event.

This species occupies seasonally dry tropical forest, scattered woodland, and cultivated country with remnant trees, mainly along the Pacific side of Central America. It is generally non-migratory but ranges locally in search of fruiting trees and communal roost sites.

Yellow-naped Amazons are gregarious, forming pairs within larger flocks and gathering at shared evening roosts. They feed on fruit, seeds, nuts, and flowers gleaned from the canopy. Nesting occurs in natural tree cavities, with both parents involved in rearing the brood. The species is known for loud, varied vocalizations, including screeches and more musical whistled notes given in flight and at roost sites.