Species names in all available languages
| Language | Common name |
|---|---|
| Catalan | amazona frontvermella |
| Czech | amazoňan zelenolící |
| Dutch | Groenwangamazone |
| English | Red-crowned Parrot |
| English (Hong Kong SAR China) | Red-crowned Amazon |
| English (United States) | Red-crowned Parrot |
| French | Amazone à joues vertes |
| French (France) | Amazone à joues vertes |
| German | Grünwangenamazone |
| Japanese | メキシコアカボウシインコ |
| Norwegian | grønnkinnamazon |
| Polish | amazonka krasnogłowa |
| Russian | Зеленощёкий амазон |
| Serbian | Tamaulipski crvenočeli amazonac |
| Slovak | amazoňan červenočelý |
| Spanish | Amazona Tamaulipeca |
| Spanish (Mexico) | Loro Tamaulipeco |
| Spanish (Puerto Rico) | Cotorra Coronirroja |
| Spanish (Spain) | Amazona tamaulipeca |
| Swedish | rödkronad amazon |
| Turkish | Yeşil Yanaklı Amazon |
| Ukrainian | Амазон зеленощокий |
Revision Notes
Simon Kiacz and Donald Brightsmith revised the account, which was reviewed by Kelly M. Hogan. Peter Pyle contributed to the Plumages, Molts, and Structure page. Peter F. D. Boesman contributed to the Sounds and Vocal Behavior page. Arnau Bonan Barfull curated the media. JoAnn Hackos, Robin K. Murie, and Daphne R. Walmer copy edited the account. Leo Gilman generated the tables and figures. Huy C. Truong generated the map.
Amazona viridigenalis (Cassin, 1853)
Definitions
- AMAZONA
- amazona
- viridigena / viridigenalis
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Red-crowned Parrot Amazona viridigenalis Scientific name definitions
Version: 2.0 — Published February 2, 2024
Photos from this Account
Fairly large parrot with blocky head, thick neck, and short tail. Escaped birds have set up breeding populations in some U.S. cities outside the native range.
Fairly large parrot with flat head and short tail. Leaf green with prominent red patch on forecrown and yellowish tip to tail. Red patch in secondaries of wing are prominent in flight.
Leaf-green parrot that can be very difficult to pick out amid tree foliage. Red forecrown transitions into bluish hindcrown and nape. Note red patch in secondaries of the wing, visible at rest.
Groups travel from roosting to feeding areas in the morning and evening, often forming small flocks and flying with shallow wingbeats. Note red patch in secondaries on trailing edge of wing, and yellowish tail tip.
Fairly large, leaf green parrots with red on the forecrown. Social and vocal, often feeding in groups on fruits in trees.
Red-crowned Parrot.
Red-crowned Parrot.
Possible confusion species: Red-lored Parrot (Amazona autumnalis).
Red-lored Parrot (subspecies autumnalis) has yellow cheeks, a darker, mostly black bill with dark cere and wider white orbital skin.
Possible confusion species: Red-lored Parrot (Amazona autumnalis).
Red-lored Parrot (subspecies autumnalis) showing its yellow cheek.
Red-crowned Parrot.
Possible confusion species: Yellow-headed Parrot (Amazona oratrix).
Yellow-headed Parrot (subspecies oratrix) is noticeably larger and has extensive yellow on the head, and red on the shoulder.
Possible confusion species: Yellow-headed Parrot (Amazona oratrix).
Yellow-headed Parrot (subspecies oratrix) showing its yellow head.
Red-crowned Parrot.
Possible confusion species: Lilac-crowned Parrot (Amazona finschi).
Lilac-crowned Parrot has lilac blue on the hind crown and the sides of the neck, and more black-tipped feathers on the underparts.
Possible confusion species: Lilac-crowned Parrot (Amazona finschi).
Lilac-crowned Parrot has darker crimson feathering restricted to the lores and forehead, not extending above the eye.
Juvenile Red-crowned Parrot.
Juvenile Plumage resembles Definitive Basic Plumage but has red restricted to a band above forehead. Sides of crown and neck with little or no blue, that present paler blue vs. violet in later plumages. Note also the narrow and tapered juvenile primaries and rectrices, the dusky wash to the iris, and the dark blotches on the bill.
Juvenile Red-crowned Parot (below), being fed by adult.
Juveniles average duller green below. Note also the narrow and tapered juvenile rectrices on the bird being fed.
Definitive Basic (adult) (left) and juvenile (right) in flight.
Note, the juvenile's eye color and flight feather shape.
Formative Red-crowned Parrot.
Formative Plumage may average slightly duller and averages less red and blue in the crown than in Definitive Basic Plumage. It is best identified by retained juvenile wing and tail feathers. Note here that some proximal upperwing lesser coverts appear to be replaced, brighter green, contrasting with duller juvenile distal and greater coverts. Retained juvenile flight feathers are narrower and relatively worn and brownish as compared with basic feathers. Here the very worn and brown juvenile primaries indicates Formative rather than Juvenile Plumage, as would be expected in March. The iris is still slightly washed dusky.
Formative (right) Red-crowned Parrot.
Retained juvenile primaries and secondaries are narrower and more tapered at the tips, and are relatively worn and brownish as compared with basic feathers. Primaries and secondaries are uniform in wear, lack molt clines shown by definitive basic birds and as can be seen on the bird to the left. Compare the width, shape, color, of the basic flight feathers on the bird to the left compared with the juvenile feathers on the formative bird to the right. The bird on the left is an adult (Definitive Basic plumage).
Definitive Basic Red-crowned Parrot.
Definitive Basic Plumage shows more extensive red and violet coloration to the head than in Juvenile and Formative Plumages. Forehead, crown, and lores are a uniform bright red; rear crown and hindneck are green; behind the eyes is a broad, violet-blue stripe that narros as it extends down the sides of the neck. This extent of red in the crown may be more common in definitive basic males than females but study is needed. The iris is yellowish to orangish-yellow, not washed dusky as in juveniles.
Definitive Basic Red-crowned Parrot.
The rectrices are green basally and light yellowish terminally, except that the middle pair is largely green. The primary coverts, alula, and remiges are blackish with green fringing or bases to the outer webs, except for the inner secondaries (s1-s5) with bright red bases to outer webs forming a distinct red patch to the upperwing (but not the underwing) in flight. Casic flight feathers are broader, blacker, more truncated at the tips, and relatively fresher than retained juvenile feathers on formative birds.
Definitive Basic Red-crowned Parrot.
Molt clines occur within the remiges of definitive basic birds, reflecting replacement sequence during the previous Definitive Prebasic Molt. Note on the bird's left wing that p5 is the most worn, primaries becoming fresher both distally and proximally. Secondary s5 is also the most worn and these also become fresher both distally and proximally, except for the tertials, which are replaced earlier and are more worn.
Head plumage variation in Definitive Basic Red-crowned Parrots.
The extent of red and blue in the head shows variation, even among definitive basic birds like these (as determined by eye color and wing-feather shape). Females are reported to average less red, rarely extending beyond the center of the crown, but this may not always reliable for sexing. It may be possible that the bird on the left is a male and the bird to the left is a female, but age needs also to be accounted for; study is needed.
Head plumage variation in Definitive Basic Red-crowned Parrots.
These birds are both in Definitive Basic Plumage based on iris color and with feather shape. It may be possible that the right-hand bird is a female and the left-hand bird is a male, but confirmation of this reported difference is needed.
Head plumage variation in Definitive Basic Red-crowned Parrots.
The bird to the right appears to be in Definitive Basic Plumage based on the uniformly basic wing coverts and could be a female mated with a male to the left. But it may also be in Formative or Second Basic Plumage, to explain the reduced amount of red and blue feathering, as possibly also suggested by the paler yellow iris; study is needed.
Xanthochromatic Red-crowned Parrot.
Xanthochromatism is an unusual yellow appearance affecting most or all feathers caused by a genetic mutation in wild birds but is a more common occurrence in captively bred populations. Variations include yellow feathers on several parts of the body, especially the neck and head, and the bend of the wing is sometimes red.
Xanthochromatic (“Lutino”) parrot, presumably Red-crowned Parrot.
The pattern of red to the head and secondaries indicates a Red-crowned Parrot but it is unknown if some color variations may be due to hybridization with congeners. The same bird is shown to the right.
Xanthochromatic Red-crowned Parrot.
The same bird as that to the left. The uniformly worn and narrow flight feathers and tapered brownish outer primaries indicate juvenile feathers and worn Juvenile or Formative Plumage. The brown bar through the remiges and rectrices mimics a "fault bar," indicating that these feathers were replaced synchronously rather than sequentially as in older birds, and that the feather tips were all emerging at this time of the Prejuvenile Molt when the browner pigment was deposited.
Red-crowned Parrots undergoing Prebasic Molts.
Prebasic Molts occur primarily in July-October in wild (including naturalized) populations. Here most birds are undergoing primary molt, at the peak of the molting season in late August.
Red-crowned Parrot undergoing Definitive Prebasic Molt (lower bird).
Primaries and secondaries are replaced from nodes at p5-p6 and at s5, followed by bidirectional replacement within each tract Among primaries either p5 and p6 can be nodal within species. On the left wing of the lower bird here, p5 and p6 are both missing and s2 is growing, whereas on the right wing molt has not initiated yet but molt clines in both directions are visible from a node at p5, the most worn feather. Clines can also be seen among the primaries of the left wing except that p1 is older than p2 indicating a previous incomplete molt and a Stafflemauser-like pattern. The clines, Staffelmauser, and asymmetry of molt between the wings all indictae an older individual.
Red-crowned Parrot having suspended the Second Prebasic Molt.
The inner two primaries have been retained among wings that otherwise shows molt clines from a node at p5 or p6. The narrow and brownish condition of these feathers, along with their symmetry and the reduced amount of red in the crown, indicates p1-p2 to be juvenile feathers on a bird in Second Basic Plumage. The following molt will begin with p2 outward and another bidirectinal sequence from p5 or p6, setting up a Staffelmauser-like pattern.
Adult Red-crowned Parrot.
In adults the bill is dull cream-yellow to pinkish and the cere is purplish pink. The iris is most often medium-dark yellow-orange and the orbital ring can be light bluish gray.
Adult Red-crowned Parrot.
Here the bill is brighter pinkish with base of the upper mandible smoother and brighter yellow. The iris is medium-dark yellow-orange and the legs and feet are gray.
Juvenile or First-year Red-crowned Parrot.
In juveniles and first-year birds (up to 6 months) the iris can be washed dusky and the bill can be duller with dark blotches or dusky marks.
Red-crowned Parrot paired with Lilac-crowned Parrot.
Red-crowned Parrot copulating with a likely Red-crowned Parrot x Turquoise-fronted Parrot (Amazona aestiva) hybrid.
Pair in its habitat; San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
Birds foraging in a golf field; Florida, United States.
Birds foraging in a garden; Texas, United States.
Birds resting on Eucalyptus tree; California, United States.
Bird feeding on berries.
Birds feeding on palm fruits.
Bird feeding on citrus fruits.
Bird feeding on flowers.
Birds feeding on medlars.
Bird feeding on berries.
Bird feeding on acorns.
Birds feeding on cactus.
Bird feeding on small flowers.
Pair flying together.
Pair mating.
Note, t
Male inspecting possible nest site.
Bird in tree cavity.
Bird in cavity in palm tree.
Birds at nest entrance in artificial nest.
Pair at nest entrance.
Macaulay Library Photos for Red-crowned Parrot
Top-rated photos submitted to the Macaulay Library via eBird. Note: Our content editors have not confirmed the species identification for these photos.
