Orange winged amazon

As its name suggests, this Amazon parrot has a band of orange on the secondary feathers of the wing. These are only truly visible when the bird is in flight. The head has varying degrees of blue and yellow around the forehead, eyes and cheeks. Like most of the Amazon parrots belonging to genus Amazona, they are mostly green in colour with varying feather markings of red, blue, yellow, white and orange.

Widely spread throughout most of tropical South America, the Orange-winged Amazon is also found on the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago. It mainly lives within mangrove forests, lowland forests, savannah and coastal regions – and eats fruit, seeds, nuts, berries, blossom and mangoes. During the day these birds are generally seen flying in pairs above the forest canopy foraging for fruits and seeds. Outside of the breeding season, pairs collect on the forest trees and roost communally – sometimes in there thousands.

The Orange-winged Amazon nests in tree cavities and lays a clutch of two to four white eggs. After being incubated (kept warm) for 26 days, the newly hatched chicks fledge at 60 days. The Amazon parrot reaches sexual maturity at four years of age and has a lifespan of over 50 years.