ForumWelcome to the AmaZone
This section is devoted to the wonderful Amazona
family ....
a species of parrot with wide-ranging natural habitats, mostly green
(there is one exception!) and quite beautiful. There are over 50
species and it can be quite difficult to tell the differences between
sub-species within a certain species. We are compiling charts and
articles to help Amazon owners identify and look after their particular
species and we would like to thank all our contributors who have taken
the time to send us information.
There is a page devoted to the Mealy Amazon (The Farinosa Group) and there are charts compiled by experienced Amazon owners to help you spot the differences in Yellow Naped, Yellow-Crowned, Double-Yellow Headed, Blue-Fronted, Red-Lored and Festive Amazons
We would really like to hear from you whether experienced or novice. Just e-mail me.
'There is much confusion in telling the difference between the BLUE FRONTED (Amazona aestiva) and the ORANGE WINGED (Amazona amazonica) Amazon. Both have blue and yellow on and around the head and face and often Orange-wings are advertised for sale as blue-fronts, the Blue-front generally commanding a higher price. This obviously causes much confusion and disappointment when a bird which has been purchased as a Blue-front is found to be an Orange-wing and supposedly not worth as much.
Three Panamas living in Panama City
I am sure that this (unfair) price distinction stems from the horrendously massive importation of orange-wings which has gone on (and unfortunately still does) thereby keeping the price low. However why the price difference should still be valid with hand-reared birds is beyond me. The parent birds cost just as much to feed and house, lay the same average number of eggs (3) in a clutch, and the chicks cost the same to rear. Also I would say, and many other breeders and pet parrot owners agree, that the hand-reared Orange-Wing makes just as affectionate, and often a better, pet bird than the Blue-Front. This seems to be particularly true if you have a nominate Blue-Front (Amazona aestiva aestiva) - although usually a better talker than either the xanthopteryx subspecies or the Orange-Wing, when nearing sexual maturity and as a breeding bird, the nominate Blue-Front is often EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE. Having bred both the nominate and the subspecies Blue-Front as well as the Orange-Wing I have found this to be so time and time again.
This is Torres, the Panama Amazon eating his string bean on a Sunday morning in Panama! (In the background there are small cashew trees)
So, how do you tell the difference between a Blue-Front and an Orange-Wing? There are many differences but the most obvious is the colour of the beak, the Blue-Front having a black beak (top & bottom mandibles) and the Orange-Wing having a horn-coloured beak (often with darker streaks). This is demonstrated very well in the photograph showing young Blue-Fronts and Orange-Wings all perching together - the two with obviously black beaks are Blue-Fronts and the other three are Orange-Wings. Another fairly obvious difference (and the origin of the name Orange-Wing) is that the feathers in the wing spectrum which are red in the Blue-Front are orange in the Orange-Wing; however this is sometimes not so clear if you cannot see an Orange-Wing and a Blue-Front side by side to compare - I have one Orange-Wing where the wing feathers are such a deep orange as to be almost scarlet! Really, the beak is the obvious give-away.'
SLT - March 1999