The lilac-crowned amazon (Amazona finschi), also known as lilac-crowned parrot, Finsch's parrot or Finsch's amazon, is a parrotendemic to the Pacific slopes of Mexico. Also known as Finsch's amazon, it is characterised by green plumage, a maroon forehead, and a violet-blue crown and neck.
The binomial of this bird commemorates the German naturalist and explorer Otto Finsch.
The plumage of an adult lilac-crowned amazon is primarily green with yellowish underparts and black edging.[3] The forehead is a maroon colour with a light blue-lilac neck, nape, and crown.[3] The cheeks and ear coverts are a greenish yellow that lacks the edging that is present in most of the plumage.[3] The primary feathers are dark blue with the secondary feathers being green while being tipped with the same dark blue colouring.[3] Furthermore, the initial five secondary feathers have a bright red speculum on the edge of the feathers.[3] The wing coverts, the underside of the flight feathers, and the tail are green while the tail is tipped with a yellowish colouring similar to that of the cheeks and ear coverts.[3] Their beak, orbital rings, and legs are a pale brown-grey colouring.[3] The irides of adult lilac-crowned parrots are amber-coloured.[3]
Juvenile lilac-crowned amazons are visually similar to their adult forms except for minor differences. One difference is that the iris of juveniles is a dark brown as opposed to the amber colouring that is found in adults.[3][4] The other major difference is that there less maroon coloured feathers on the forehead of juveniles.[4] After about one-year juveniles begin to acquire these adult features.[4]
Range and habitat
The lilac-crowned amazon's endemic range spans along the pacific coast of Mexico, beginning in southeastern Sonora and southwestern Chihuahua down to southern Oaxaca.[4] In Sinaloa and northern Nayarit the geographic range of the lilac-crowned parrot is above 375 meters of elevation and does not reach sea level until southern Nayarit, where it remains so through Jalisco and Oaxaca.[4][5]
The lilac-crowned amazon's natural habitat in Mexico is often threatened. The decline in population size has been recorded in almost all of its natural habitat locations.[5] Based on a collection of data and resident accounts, Amazona finschi population range has decreased by 20% due to habitat loss.[6]
An increasingly growing population of approximately 100 individuals is found in Southern California, especially in the San Gabriel Valley and Orange Country.[7] This increase could also be attributed to a more reliable source of measurement of population than in past years.[8] These populations often are found in residential areas and occasionally in nesting groups with red-crowned parrots in native conifer forests or non-native captive plants.[7]
Breeding
The lilac-crowned amazon's breeding season is from February to June.[3] They have a 28-day incubation period and a 60-day period of nestling growth.[9][3][10] They tend to nest in the natural cavities of trees in dry forests.[9] Females have a clutch size ranging from 1-4 eggs which usually results in an average brood size of 1.8 nestlings and a reproductive output of 0.99 fledglings per egg-laying female.[11] Ultimately outcomes of reproductive efforts result in 0.70 independent young per egg-laying pair.[12]
These low success rates could be attributed to the climate variability in dry forests, which could have an effect on clutch size, reproductive output and success.[11][12]
Hand-reared lilac-crowned amazons can be quite friendly in captivity and can learn quite a vocabulary, even though they are not known as talkers. They make good companion parrots.
^Mabb, Karen (2003). Naturalized parrot roost flock characteristics and habitat utilization in a suburban area of Los Angeles County, California (Master's dissertation). California State Polytechnic University.
^ abRenton, K., and A. Salinas-Melgoza. 1999. Nesting behaviour of the Lilac-crowned Parrot. Wilson Bulletin 111: 488-493.
^Renton, K. 2002. Influence of environmental variability on the growth of Lilac-crowned Parrot nestlings. Ibis 144: 331–339.
^ abRenton, K., and A. Salinas Melgoza. 2004. Climatic variability, nest predation, and reproductive output of Lilac-crowned Parrots (Amazona finschi) in the tropical dry forest of western Mexico. Auk 121: 1214–1225.
^ abSalinas Melgoza, A., and K. Renton. 2007. Post-fledging survival and development of juvenile Lilac-crowned Parrots. Journal of Wildlife Management 71: 43–50.
