About Amazona aestiva (Linnaeus, 1758)
The blue-fronted amazon (Amazona aestiva) is a primarily green parrot, measuring approximately 38 cm (15 inches) in length. It has blue feathers on the forehead above its beak, and yellow feathers on its face and crown. The pattern and spread of these blue and yellow markings varies widely between individual birds. Unlike most other Amazona parrots, the blue-fronted amazon's beak is mostly black. To the human eye, there is no obvious sexual dimorphism between males and females. However, when feather plumage is analyzed with spectrometry, a technique that shows plumage as it would be seen by a parrot's tetrachromatic vision, clear plumage differences between the sexes are visible. Juvenile blue-fronted amazons have duller plumage and dark irises. The native range of the blue-fronted amazon covers eastern and northern Bolivia, eastern Brazil, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. This species inhabits forests (though it generally avoids large continuous humid forests like the Amazon), as well as woodland, savanna, and palm groves. A small feral breeding population is established in greener areas of Stuttgart, Germany, and Genoa, Italy. While blue-fronted amazons have been observed in the wild in Puerto Rico, these individuals are most likely escaped pets, and no breeding has been recorded there.
