Blue-fronted amazon

Latin name: Amazona aestiva

 

Still common in nature.


Authorised for sale (Annex II of the Washington Convention).


Despite regular reproduction in captivity, many wild imported specimens are still up for sale.

 

As with nearly all amazons, a green plumage is dominant. A splash of blue across the forehead is variable according to the individual bird and its age.

Height: approximately 35 cm
Weight: approximately 400 g
Colour: Green plumage, yellow cheeks, blue forehead more or less spread across a yellow zone. 

 

Circle of white around the eye and a black beak. 

 

Grey feet.

 

No sexual dimorphism.


The expansion of blue can continue up to the third year.

 

The edge of the wing (shoulder) is red for the species aestiva aestiva. 

 

The rarer subspecies aestiva xanthopteryx has a yellow edge on its wing.

International trade and trafficking has removed from the wild and over-exploited the blue-fronted amazon over several decades. Several hundred thousands of birds have disappeared – bought at a low price from farmers then resold in our markets thousands of times more expensively (80% loss in the end). However, the “Blue Front” is widely bred in captivity. Wild birds should no longer be for sale, and yet…

 

Remember that by purchasing an imported bird, you are contributing to the destruction of wild fauna. Born in captivity, these birds appreciate contact and can learn a large vocabulary.

 

The aestiva aestiva amazon is indigenous to Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, and Paraguay while the aestiva xanthropteryx comes only from a limited area in Bolivia.

 

Even if the current population of "Blue Fronts" seems sizable, the massive removal of chicks from their nests leads to a brutal and sudden decline of the “stock”. Their removal is largely through the destruction of nests (by hollowing or felling of trees in which the nests are found).

 

The map below is currently available only in French. An English version will soon be made available.