Despite their name, Yellow Headed Amazon Parrots did not originate in the Amazon. They actually originated along the coastal regions of Mexico. Their beautiful colors and bold striking marking are what helped to make them so popular as pets. They are predominantly bright green with a vivid yellow head and a beautiful red patch on each wing. Their native habitat is now primarily in Central America where there are large tropical forests and swamps that allow them to nest safely. Their beauty has caused them to become rare and endangered. Poaching of the birds as well as deforestation of the region has caused a dramatic drop in the number of birds.
Yellow Headed Amazons which are breed in captivity are readily available but they have become quite expensive to buy. People then to like them because they can be very verbal and talkative. The problem is that the ability to talk varies greatly with each individual bird. Some will talk your ear off while others may never say a word. They are amazingly intelligent. They are also playful and have great a great sense of humor. Add to that the fact that they can be extremely noisy and you’ve got a housefull of excitement. They like attention and if they do not receive it they will certainly let you know that they are needy at the moment. The challenge to the owner is to get the bird to replace all of it’s screeching with intelligent words. A wonderful and rewarding challenge.
These birds tend to be very active and they need an environment that will allow them the space to fly and move around. There cage is a wonderful place to house them but they need time each day to get out and about. The good news is that even though they are quite large and can be quite destructive, their intelligence allows them to be very well trained where they will not tear your house apart. Obviously, part of the training is to provide lots of chew toys and branches for them to play with.
The male yellow headed parrot will grow to about 15 inches long while the female will be slightly smaller. Their hooked beak is used to crack seeds and nuts and also as a hand to help them to grab and climb. Their feet have two toes pointing forward and two toes pointing backwards. The perfect setup for grasping branches and food.
In their natural habitat their diet consists mostly fruit, nuts, corn, flowers, etc. At home, the owner needs to not only provide fruits and vegetables but also seeds and pellet food.
One of the biggest considerations for a person considering adopting a Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot is its life expectancy. Birds this large can live 60+ years with some reported to reach 100 years. For the right person, these birds will give years and years of happiness, pleasure, and entertainment.
Bob Cotto is a yellow parrot expert. For information on the yellow parrot, visit http://www.yourparrotguide.com/.
Create a positive experience when teaching a bird to step up on your hand and learn more tips on training parrots in this free pet care video clip. Expert: Elizabeth Cantu Bio: Elizabeth Cantu has owned and been working with parrots since 1994. She has been active in captive parrot rescue and rehabilitation. Filmmaker: julio costilla
Question by Jerkwithhotsauce: Asking for baby parrot advice blue front amazon?
I’d like some advice from experienced parrot “parents” regarding behaviour/training. I am hand feeding a blue front and have never had one before. Feeding, etc. is fine. I have horses, and have for years. I always end up with well behaved horses and know there are plenty of things I have learned throughout the years that work well. I’m sure it is the same with parrots!. What should I know about raising as polite of a parrot as possible? What type of negative/positive reinforcement is most appropriate, and when? I am doing my best to socialize him/her already and handle the chick frequently. I know this is a long term commitment and I want to do a good job. Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by fremontpreschoolteacher Provide lots of “play time” as your parrot grows he’s going to need to stimulate not only his body but his mind. Make sure hes socialized around people of all ages and all sexes, (Nobody wants to visit a house where the birds gunna attack)
There are lots of parrot groups online to provide you with plenty of information on raising a healthy bird. Im just passing information on I’ve picked up from my mother… a.k.a the crazy parrot lady (sorry mom).
Question by Anne B: How can I train my Amazon Parrot the wave trick?
I want my Amazon to wave but I don’t know what to do. Please help.
Best answer:
Answer by Parrot Expert I would suggest buying a book/dvd about parrot training. But if you don’t want to spend the money there are some free videos on youtube and articles like this one that can show you what to do:
Hello, I recently adopted a Yellow Naped Amazon from a woman that needed to move and they would not allow pets where she was moving to. She bought him/her about 10 years ago and she was really unsure of how old he was when she got him/her. Ralph is most likely 11-15 years old if i were to guess. She never had the bird DNA sexed so I will refer to the bird as Ralph instead of him or her. Here is my question or questions. She was feeding him Hartz diet (mainly all seeds and nuts in this Hartz diet) she also gave him lots of shelled peanuts because Ralph loves them and I read that the shell can carry a mold and could cause illness or at least it used to happen years ago. I give him human grade unsalted shell peanuts and I hope that I can continue to do this sometimes as a treat because he does love to get them out of the shell and eat them. I only have Ralph now for 4 days and I love him already. My first concern for Ralph is for his health for the rest of his life and then next would be to teach him to be more affectionate and to be able to be handled easier. I have started target (clicker) training but since his whole diet consists of everything that he loves and should have been given mainly as treats, should I switch Ralph to a pelleted diet now and if so which pellet? He is stubborn when it comes to his food and wants what he wants, so will he eventually get used to the pellet diet or will he near starve himself before he realizes he has to eat it. It would be a whole lot easier for me to train him if I can give him what he likes (nuts and dried papaya) as a treat during the training process. Ralph is very intelligent and he is still adjusting to his new home with us, he is already starting to talk again, he talked for his previous owner alot. He has a decent vocabulary already and I would like to enlarge his vocabulary but I want to earn his trust. I had to overcome my fear of him first because the woman I bought him from said he bites, I have already overcome this fear with him because he does not bite as hard as he could if he wanted to, so now I started the training process. I have found that Ralph is very hard to work with while on the top of his cage or while in his cage, what can I do about this? Should I get a parrot stand, do you feel that this would be beneficial to my training since he could not run away as easy on the stand. Ralph’s wings are clipped just enough that he can’t fly but he can still jump off his cage onto a nearby bed when I try to get him to Step Up. Ralph will then immediately go from the bed to my arm and then to my shoulder probably just hoping for an easy return to his cage. My next question is this, Should I be letting him on my shoulder or should I be keeping him on my forearm and if so this will be very hard to accomplish since he was allowed on the previous owners shoulder? Is there truth to the bird dominating you if he is above you in a sense? Any help that you can give me will be greatly appreciated, I want to do the right things for all of us so that we all live a long and happy life together. Thank you very much and I look forward to your reply. Tom
