Yellow-crowned parrots give off a variety of metallic shrieks, whistles, squawks, and repeated screeches. Like other parrots, they have a complex and flexible repertoire, giving them the ability to mimic human speech. They also use visual perception for courtship displays.
Communication Channels: visual ; acoustic
Other Communication Modes: mimicry
Perception Channels: visual ; tactile ; acoustic ; chemical
Yellow-crowned parrots have a "least concern" rating on the IUCN Red List. However, along with most other parrots, they have a CITES Appendix I status.
US Migratory Bird Act: no special status
US Federal List: no special status
CITES: appendix i
State of Michigan List: no special status
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern
Their love of cultivated fruits makes yellow-crowned parrots pests to orchard and farm owners in their range. They cause damage to maize and fruit crops.
Negative Impacts: crop pest
Yellow-crowned parrots have an uncanny ability to mimic human speech. Because of this ability they are popular as pets. Feathers are sometimes used in native decoration and Amazon parrots in general are popular with birders, encouraging ecotourism in their native ranges.
Positive Impacts: pet trade ; body parts are source of valuable material; ecotourism
Yellow-crowned parrots eat seeds, nuts, fruits, and berries, and are important seed predators and seed dispersers.
Ecosystem Impact: disperses seeds
Yellow-crowned parrots are opportunistic feeders and gather in treetops in parties of around ten to feed. They eat seeds, nuts, fruits, berries, blossoms and leaf buds. They use their feet to manipulate food and extract nut kernels with their beak and tongue. Yellow-crowned parrots are fond of maize and cultivated fruits.
Plant Foods: seeds, grains, and nuts; fruit; flowers
Primary Diet: herbivore (Frugivore , Granivore )
Amazona ochrocephala is found from central Mexico to central South America, including to the southern Amazonian Basin east to Peru, and including Trinidad and other Carribean Islands. They have been introduced to southern California and south Florida.
Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Introduced ); neotropical (Native )
Yellow-crowned parrots are found in a variety of habitats ranging from humid lowlands and tropical forests to deciduous woodlands and tall scrubland. They can also be found in pine forests and agricultural areas.
Range elevation: 0 to 900 m.
Habitat Regions: temperate ; tropical ; terrestrial
Terrestrial Biomes: forest ; rainforest ; scrub forest
Other Habitat Features: agricultural
Yellow-crowned parrots, like most large parrots, have a very long lifespan. Little is known about the lifespan of yellow-crowned parrots in the wild. In captivity large parrots can live for up to 100 years.
Range lifespan
Status: wild: 56 (high) years.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 56 years.
Yellow-crowned parrots have a mass of 402 to 561 g and are usually around 35 cm in length. They generally have bright green feathers edged in black with yellow markings on the head and face. Yellow-crowned parrots have yellow feathers directly above the beak. The cere and hairs around the nostrils are black. The beak is usually dark gray to black. The tail is short (about 10.16 cm) and squared-off at the base. Males and females are similar.
Range mass: 405 to 561 g.
Average length: 35 cm.
Range wingspan: 20.3 to 21.6 cm.
Sexual Dimorphism: sexes alike
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Yellow-crowned parrots do not have many predators as adults. Natural predation on yellow-crowned parrots is primarily from boa constrictors (Boa constrictor), accounting for a 9.5% decrease in breeding success each year. Boa constrictors feed on fledgings and females found in or around the nest. Poaching by humans is the primary cause of breeding failure. Because of combined predation by snakes and poaching by humans, yellow-crowned parrots have very low breeding success (10-14%).
Known Predators:
Yellow-crowned parrots are monogamous birds. They have simple courtship displays for attracting mates that include bowing, wing-drooping, wing-flicking, tail-wagging, foot-raising, and dilation of the eye pupils. When roosting, pairs remain close together.
Mating System: monogamous
The breeding period for yellow-crowned parrots is December through May. In this time, they lay clutch sizes of 2 to 4 eggs, laying only one clutch per season. It takes about 25 days for the eggs to hatch and about 56 days for them to become fledglings. Offspring become independent about 2 months after they hatch. Both male and female yellow-crowned parrots reach sexual maturity at about 3 years.
Breeding interval: Yellow-crowned parrots breed once yearly.
Breeding season: Breeding occurs from December through May.
Range eggs per season: 2 to 4.
Range time to hatching: 24 to 27 days.
Average time to hatching: 25 days.
Average fledging age: 56 days.
Average time to independence: 2 months.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female): 2 to 4 years.
Range age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male): 2 to 4 years.
Key Reproductive Features: iteroparous ; seasonal breeding ; gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual ; oviparous
Up to one month before the first egg is layed, female A. ochrocephala prepare a nest in a tree hollow. The female lays a clutch of 2 to 4 eggs (at 2 day intervals) which she incubates for 24 to 27 days. The eggs are plain white with no shell markings and have an elliptical shape. During this time, the male remains close to the nest entrance and feeds the female. After hatching, the female remains with the young for most of the day, occasionally taking breaks to forage. A few days after the eggs hatch, the male begins to enter the nest cavity to feed the young, although the female still does the majority of the feeding.
Parental Investment: altricial ; pre-fertilization (Provisioning, Protecting: Female); pre-hatching/birth (Provisioning: Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-weaning/fledging (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female); pre-independence (Provisioning: Male, Female, Protecting: Male, Female)
