37 cm.. length and 430 g. of weight.

The Red-tailed Parrot (Amazona brasiliensis) has forecrown, front of crown and lores, red; Subsequent red feathers crown with purple tips; cheeks, ear-coverts, sides neck and throat, mauve-blue; back of the crown and nape, green with black tips.

Upperparts green, some feathers rump with yellow points. The median, greater coverts and secondary internal clearly appear yellow; edge front of the wing Red and yellow; primaries grey-black, secondaries green, turning blue towards the tips.

Under the wings, brighter yellowish green; flight feather of black and blue color on the basis of innerwebs. Underparts brighter yellowish green, paler in undertail-coverts. Tail green with broad greenish-yellow tips, lateral feathers marked basally with purplish-blue on outerweb and tipped yellowish-green with broad subterminal band red.

Bill pale horn with dark tip; irises orange; legs pink-gray.

Both sexes are similar. The immature It is less extensive in red head, a plumage darker overall and irises darker.

• Sound of the Red-tailed Parrot.

taxonomic note:

The molecular study suggests that this species is closest to the Orange-winged Parrot (Amazona amazonica). Previously it thought to form a group with Blue cheeked Parrot (Amazona dufresniana) and Red-browed Parrot (Amazona rhodocorytha), and it has been treated as conspecific with one or both. monotypic.

The Red-tailed Parrot dwells in a restricted area or coastal lowland forest and wetlands with rare species and structural diversity, including moist lowland forests, restinga, freshwater marshes and mangroves. Your preferred coastal habitats have complex channel networks, swamps and wetlands. Trees characteristic of its forest habitat include Luehea and Andira, while the vegetation of the islands, where they sleep and breed, They are dominated by several species Halophyte and formations restinga.

Apparently, some birds are practically living in flooded forests, probably due to increased availability of nests. Sympatric presence and partnership with the Red-spectacled Parrot (Amazona pretrei) in forests Araucaria, probably wrong. Lives in altitudes not exceeding the 300-400 m, Although there are records to 700 metres in Paraná. Forman communal shelters (often in mangroves) during at least part of the year, with more than 750 birds reported at a meeting (1985).

They nest in the cavity of a living or dead tree, for example, palms Jerivá (Syagrus romanzoffianum) and guanandi (Callophyllum Brasiliense) and occasionally arboreal nests of termites; height generally, but recorded only a nest 1 meter above the floodwater. Usually it played in flooded or swampy areas, including mangroves. breeding season in September to February, in some cases in April. Clutch 5-4 eggs. The eggs are hatch during 27 to 28 days, and the period until nest abandonment is thought to last from 50 to 55 days

The fruits of Callophyllum Brasiliense They are considered of considerable importance in the diet of the Red-tailed Parrot, with fruits Syagrus romanzoffianum and Psidium cattleyanum also taken in quantity; other registered foods include flowers, fruits of Erythrina speciosa, fruits of Euphorbia and Myrcia and insects in fruit. They feed in pairs or groups up 20 birds.

Size of its range (breeding/resident): 10.100 km2

The Amazona Colirroja et is confined to a small area in the southeast coastal of Brazil, in the states of São Paulo and Paraná. In coastal areas São Paulo It extends southwest of Itanhaém, including the isla Long and isla del Cardoso, and virtually all coastal areas of neighboring Paraná, from Guaraquecaba, Antonina and Paianagua, until Guaratuba and several offshore islands adjacent, eg Mel Island.

Possibly they inhabit the extreme northeast Santa Catarina, adjacent to Paraná, but there are no reliable records. An old record Rio Grande do Sul it seems unlikely. possibly some seasonal movements lower in winter (May-August).

The rapid decline in population in the twentieth century it is due in part to the loss of habitat, with most areas densely settled and totally deforested, the remaining threatened are given by urbanization (for example, in isla Long), the felling of trees nesting and feeding, as well as the Palmas for human use (shipbuilding and food) and conversion of wetlands for water buffalo and rice production (birds also face competition from grazing animals for consumption of fruits Erythrina speciosa). But, direct human exploitation of the species is not now a less serious problem, some related to their hunting for food, although most suffer their capture illegal for trade. A recent study 49 showed that nests 41 of them they were illegally stolen their young, while the 1,27% available habitat was lost only in 1993.

Total wild population estimated in 3.600 birds (1995) with rapid decline of several hundreds Predicted. Distribution area probably no more than 6.000 km2, with large parts of this extension susceptible to sea level rise caused by climate change.

protected by national legislation. Live in several areas protected (for example, Isla del Cardoso, Sao Paulo), but in them there is only a very small proportion of birds.

State of conservation ⓘ
Vulnerable ⓘ (UICN)ⓘ

• Current category of the Red List of the UICN: Vulnerable.

• Population trend: Increasing.

• Population size : 6000-6700.

• Rationale for the Red List category

The catch for cage bird trade and loss of habitat are the major threats to this species. Despite the heavy pressure to capture the early nineties, It is believed that the range of the species remained essentially the same, and populations have been stable or declined less steeply than feared, According to a recent estimate that suggests a population increase. Due to its small breeding range and highly fragmented habitat, the species qualifies as Vulnerable.

• Justification of the population

The winter counts in 2015 registered 7.464 and individuals in Paraná 1.712 in São Paulo, with both populations continuing to increase (D. Waugh in some ., 2015). The population It is estimated, therefore, between 9.000 and 10.000 individuals, equivalent approximately to 6.000 to 6.700 mature individuals.

• Justification of trend

It is suspected that the conservation measures long term have contributed to a recent increase in population at a rate unquantified, although habitat fragmentation and poaching remain significant threats (Waugh 2006).

CITES Appendix I and II and protected by the Brazilian legislation.

Each captive specimen of this species which is capable of reproducing, It is placed in a Program well managed captive breeding and not be sold as a pet, in order to ensure long term survival.

– Blue-cheeked Parrot, Blue-faced Parrot, Brazilian Green Amazon, Brazilian Green Parrot, Red tailed Parrot, Red-tailed Amazon, Red-tailed Parrot (English).
– Amazone à joues bleues (French).
– Rotschwanzamazone (German).
– papagaio, papagaio-de-cara-roxa (Portuguese).
– Amazona Brasilera, Amazona Colirroja (español).
– Marreco ananai (Brazil)

– Order: Psittaciformes
– Family: Psittacidae
– Genus: Amazona
– Scientific name: Amazona brasiliensis
– Citation: (Linnaeus, 1758)
– Protonimo: Psittacus brasiliensis

Sources:

– Avibase
– Parrots of the World – Forshaw Joseph M
– Parrots A Guide to the Parrots of the World – Tony Juniper & Mike Parr
– Birdlife

Photos:

(1) – A Red-tailed Amazon at Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil By Kee Yip from Union City, California, USA (IMG_4509_P1040018) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
(2) – A juvenile Red-tailed Amazon which is grasping something in its right foot, probably to chew or eat it By writhedhornbill (originally posted to Flickr as Red tailed amazon) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
(3) – Red-tailed Amazon (Amazona brasiliensis) bird Park, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil By http://www.birdphotos.com (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
(4) – Red-tailed Amazon at the zoo By Elcio Ferreira [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
(5) – A Red-tailed Amazon at Parque das Aves, Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil By Chad Bordes (Picasa Web Albums) [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
(6) – CHEYSOTIS ERYTHRURA By Zoological Society of London.; Zoological Society of London. [CC BY 2.0 or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Sounds: Antonio Silveira, XC109467. accessible www.xeno-canto.org/109467