Saint Vincent amazon

The Saint Vincent amazon (Amazona guildingii), also known as Saint Vincent parrot,  is the only parrot that lives in the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean.

It is a large, multi-colored  parrot with a yellowish white, blue and green head, greenish-bronze upperparts plumage, and violet blue-green wings.

 Description 
230px|right|thumb|At the Botanical Gardens, Kingstown, Saint Vincent

The bird is  long. The plumage of this attractive species is highly variable: virtually no two birds look alike, with a yellowish white, blue and green head, greenish-bronze upperparts, violet blue-green wings, grey feet, and reddish eye. Its tail feathers are blue with broad yellow tips. Both sexes are similar.

There are two different colour morphs:A morph is one of two or more distinct types of a given species, often distinct colour forms, which occur in the same population at the same time (that is, they are not geographical or seasonal variations a more common ‘yellow-brown’ morph, and a less common ‘green’ morph. Although both morphs are broadly similar in appearance, the upperparts of the 'green' morph are mainly dull-green and the head is bluish white. Available on line in Biodiversity Heritage Library

 Range and habitat 
The Saint Vincent amazon is endemic to the heavily forested mountains of the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent in the Lesser Antilles.

It lives in rainforests in the island's central mountains, from ; it prefers mountains and valleys at low elevation because there are larger, mature trees needed for the nests.

 Biology 
The Saint Vincent amazons live in groups and feed on the upper parts of large trees. Its diet consists mainly of fruits, seeds, flowers and leaves of several species of the rainforest.

They breed between January and June (mostly February-May) and their nests are in holes in mature, large trees. The female usually lays two to three eggs.

 Status 
The combined effects of habitat loss, hunting for food, the capture to trade them as pets, and natural disasters (volcanoes and hurricanes, made that the number of Saint Vincent Amazon declined through the 20th century.

Due to all these contributing factors, the St. Vincent parrot is considered Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I and II of CITES.

Conservation
A group of conservation measures has been able to avoid the extinction of the St Vincent Amazon, including: the enforcement of international and domestic legislation protecting this species from hunting and trade; the protection of habitat through the establishment of the St Vincent Parrot Reserve; and the delivery of successful public education campaigns.

On October 27, 1979, A. guildingii was declared the national bird of St. Vincent and the Grenadines as part of the country's first independence celebration.

References

Other websites

 ARKive - images and movies of the Saint Vincent Amazon (Amazona guildingii) 
 Animal Diversity Web - Amazona guildingii
 BirdLife Species Factsheet 
 Catalogue of Life 
 ITIS Report
 UNEP-WCMC Species Database Amazona guildingii

Saint Vincent Amazon
Category:National symbols of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines