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Black-billed Amazon

 (Amazona agilis)

Also known as: Black-billed Parrot, All-green Amazon, Active Amazon

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Black-billed Amazon
© Ron Knight [CC BY 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

The courtship display of the Black-billed Amazon is unlike that of others of its kind - the male charges at the female and sways from side to side with a stiff-legged awkward motion, sometimes jumping over the female.

Programs & Projects

WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn more

Academic Research

Related publications: Amazona agilis

Species Profile

Genus: Amazona | Species: agilis

Size:

25cm (9.75 in)

Weight:

Not recorded.

Subspecies including nominate:

one

Colour Adult:

Male-plumage green with yellow/green on underparts; neck feathers softly dusted with black; red primary coverts; green tail with red at base. Bill grey, paler at base. Eye ring dark grey, eye dark brown. Female-as in male but with some primary coverts green instead of red.

Colour Juvenile:

As in adults but all primary coverts green.

Call:

Bugling while in flight. While perched growls and rumbles. Other notes sharp and screechy. Call notes higher pitched than calls of Yellow-billed Amazon.

Listen Now

Video Links:

Video 1 | Video 2

More Information:

Avibase

Content Sources:

CITES
BirdLife International
Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Birds of the World
A Guide to Parrots of the World, Juniper and Parr, 1998
ML Media Collection Catalogue 56150 Black-billed Parrot (Amazona agilis), Macaulay, Linda, Manchester, Jamaica, Feb. 24, 1992, Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Site
Parrots of the World, Forshaw, 2006. 2010 edition
Parrots: Their Care and Breeding, Low, 1986.
Lexicon of Parrots, Thomas Arndt.
Parrots: Status Survey and Conservation Plan 2000-2004, Snyder, McGowan, Gilardi and Grajal, 2000.

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Black-billed Amazon
© Ron Knight [CC BY 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

The courtship display of the Black-billed Amazon is unlike that of others of its kind - the male charges at the female and sways from side to side with a stiff-legged awkward motion, sometimes jumping over the female.

Programs & Projects

WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn more

Academic Research

Related publications: Amazona agilis

Species Care

Captive Status:

Very rare

Longevity:

Not recorded.

Housing:

4 x 1.5 x 2m (13 x 5 x 6.5 ft) enclosure with metal construction.

Diet:

Seed mix such as: millet, canary, wheat, oats, limited safflower and sunflower, canary grass seed; limited pine nuts; fruits such as: apple, pear, banana, cactus fruits, kiwi; vegetables such as: carrot, celery, green beans and peas in the pod; berries such as: rowan (mountain ash), elder, rosehips; mineral supplements particularly A and C; green leaves such as: kale, Swiss chard, lettuce, dandelion, chickweed; complete kibble.

Enrichment:

Provide bird-safe branches (fir, pine, etc), wood and vegetable tanned leather chew toys, ladders, swings, foraging toys.

Nest Box Size:

Vertical box 10" x 10" x 24" (25.4cm x 25.4cm x 61cm).

Clutch Size:

2-3

Incubation Time:

26 days

Fledging Age:

8 weeks

Hatch Weight:

Not recorded.

Peak Weight:

Not recorded.

Weaning Weight:

Not recorded.

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Black-billed Amazon
© Ron Knight [CC BY 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

The courtship display of the Black-billed Amazon is unlike that of others of its kind - the male charges at the female and sways from side to side with a stiff-legged awkward motion, sometimes jumping over the female.

Programs & Projects

WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn more

Academic Research

Related publications: Amazona agilis

Species Wild Status

World Population:

6000-15,000

IUCN Red List Status:

Endangered

CITES Listing:

Appendix II

Threat Summary:

A BirdLIfe 'restricted-range' species. Affected by increased cultivation for agriculture and logging. Mining has possibly resulted in much-reduced habitat. This species is also trapped as a food source locally, and there is also predation by yellow boas. Trapping for the wild bird trade appears to not have had much effect.

Range:

Found in Jamaica, West Indies.

Habitat:

Found between 300-1200m (984-3936 ft) in wet limestone forest; also found in agricultural plots in forest and cultivated areas at forest edge.

Wild Diet:

Feeds on seeds, fruits, berries, leaf buds and blossoms; also ripe plantain, Musa, Cecropia, Ficus, Nectandra, Bryophyllum, Blighia sapida and Melia azedarach.

Ecology and Behaviour:

Found in flocks of 6-40 individuals or more. Roosts communally, rising at sunrise with much noise and high-flying. Feeds in middle to upper storeys of canopy. Resident, with local wandering according to food availability.

Clutch and Egg Size:

2-3 eggs

Breeding Season:

Courtship late January-February; nesting March-May in hollow limbs or tree cavities at least 18m up; sometimes old woodpecker nests and bases of bromeliads.

Related Links:

Research: The breeding biology of the Black-billed Parrot and Yellow-billed Parrot in Cockpit County, Jamaica

Click photo to visit gallery

Wild Black-billed Amazon
© Ron Knight [CC BY 2.0] via Flickr

Did You Know?

The courtship display of the Black-billed Amazon is unlike that of others of its kind - the male charges at the female and sways from side to side with a stiff-legged awkward motion, sometimes jumping over the female.

Programs & Projects

WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn more

Academic Research

Related publications: Amazona agilis

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