Yellow-naped Amazon

Yellow-naped Amazon battle analysis

The yellow-naped amazon is a stocky green parrot with a yellow band across the back of its neck, living in the dry forests, mangroves and farm country of Central America's Pacific slope. It is one of the best-studied wild parrots because of its voice. In Costa Rica, birds from different regions use different contact calls, forming dialects with sharp borders. Young birds that move learn the local dialect within weeks, while adults tend to stay loyal to home, and over 22 years of study these dialects began to blur as populations crashed.

Pairs defend their nest territory by duetting, trading male and female notes in a fixed order. Neighbors reply with duets of their own, and occasionally these vocal contests turn into physical fights at the border. In captivity the same vocal talent makes it one of the best mimics of human speech, which is exactly why poachers take its chicks: most wild nests fail because the young are stolen, and the population has fallen by more than 92% in three generations.

In an absolute matchup it is a 0.5 kg bird with a strong bite for its size and no armor. It can hurt a hand or a small animal, but against a raptor or a carnivore it has only flight and alertness to rely on.

Habitat & range

The yellow-naped amazon lives along the Pacific slope from Oaxaca in southern Mexico to north-western Costa Rica, on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras and Nicaragua, and on the Bay Islands of Honduras. It uses deciduous and evergreen forest, clearings, savanna woodland, pine woodland on ridges, gallery forest and semi-arid woodland, and less often thorn forest, mangroves and farmland with scattered trees (WPT).

Diet & hunting

It eats seeds of Cochlospermum and Curatella, figs and ripening Terminalia fruit (WPT), plus other nuts, berries and fruit. Bay Island birds feed on Caribbean pine cones.

Social life

Birds live in pairs or flocks and gather in larger groups at communal night roosts and feeding areas. Pairs are monogamous in the breeding season and defend small territories by duetting.

Conservation

The yellow-naped amazon is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, after two uplistings from Vulnerable (Dahlin et al. 2024). WPT gives about 1,000–2,500 mature birds and decreasing. The population is estimated to have fallen by more than 92% over three generations, mainly from poaching of chicks for the pet trade and loss of dry forest to farming. Populations in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras are now very small, and Costa Rica is the stronghold. The Mesoamerican Parrot Census Network, supported by WPT, monitors the species with volunteers.

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