Mealy Amazon Parrot - Go Tambopata

General information

Genus: Amazona
Species: Farinosa
Also known as: Mealy Parrot, Blue-Crowned Mealy Parrot
Subspecies of Mealy Amazon: A. f. inornata (Plain-colored Amazon), A. f. virenticeps (Costa Rican or Green-headed Amazon), A. f. guatemalae (Blue-crowned or Guatemalan Amazon), A. f. farinosa and A. f. chapmani (Chapman’s Mealy Amazon)
Average length: 38 – 43 cm (15 – 17 in.)
Adult weight: 535 – 766 g (18.9 – 26.8 oz.)
Diet: Seeds, fruits, young leaves, flower buds and nectar. Mineral soil at claylicks.
Natural predators: Hawks and monkeys. Snakes may steal eggs or babies.
Life span in the wild: Unknown
Clutch size: Three or four eggs
Natural habitat: Lowland forest and occasionally in savannahs.
Geographical range: From Southern Mexico through to Bolivia and from Ecuador to southern Brazil

They are regularly seen in large groups, often with various macaw species, eating soil at claylicks, such as those in Tambopata, south-eastern Peru.
The “mealy” part of their name is because their backs and back of their necks (the “nape”) look like they are covered in white flour or meal. In fact, “farinosa” in their scientific name means “floury”.
Mealy Parrots are highly social birds and can often be seen flying in flocks of up to 20 individuals and even several hundred in the breeding season.
There are five different subspecies of this geographically widely distributed parrot. In Tambopata, you will find the Chapmani species.
The Mealy Amazon is one of the biggest and noisiest parrot species in the Amazon, making them easier to detect than other species.
Like other parrots, they nest in holes in trees and sometimes in stone walls.

Soberanes-González, C., C. Rodríguez-Flores & M.C. Arizmendi. 2010. Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinosa), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online.
Animal Diversity Web, Museum of Zoology – University of Michigan
BirdLife International 2012. Amazona Farinosa. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. Downloaded on 18 May 2013.