There are
approximately 27 species of Amazons and species have subspecies
as well. Amazons are one of the largest groups of parrots and
range from South America to Northern Mexico. Nine species of
Amazons are from the islands in the Caribbean.
In the wild, Amazons are most active from dawn to about 10:00
a.m. They become active again from about 4:00 p.m. until dusk.
In captivity it is during these times that some become quite
noisy. When alarmed by an intruder, they become very vocal and
remain so after all signs of the intruder have vanished. The
amount of noise varies with different species and individuals.
These times during the day are perfect for speech training as
it is the bird's natural vocalization time.
The Amazon is a stocky-built bird with a square tail. Those
commonly kept for pets are mostly green with light bone or dark
gray beaks. They range in size from 10 to 16 inches. Amazons
have green body feathers, varying from dark bluish green to
a yellow green. Colored head feathers of red, blue, yellow,
lavender and white distinguish one species from another. Wing
and tail coloration as well as beak and foot coloration help
in identification. When determining what type of Amazon you
have, check the head coloration, then beak and foot color. If
the photo you are using for a guide shows the wing and tail
coloration, check them as well. Some species such as Blue Fronted
Amazons, have a variation in the amount of color. You may not
get an exact match with a photo in a book.
History
Among
the first animals Christopher Columbus came across in the New
World were Amazon parrots. Columbus brought back Cuban parrots
to Europe from his first voyage to the New World. Dr. Dari Russ
published several books in the 1870's and 1880 's about popular
birds as house pets. He gave the name "Amazon Parrot"
to the birds known as "green parrots" or "short-winged
parrots." Traders and sailors called them "Kriken".
This comes from the French word "criquer", which means
to screech.
Although Amazons became pets, Indians hunted a far greater number
for food. They served these birds with broth and rice. Those
that survived capture and the long sea voyage, went to trainers
in European port cities. These trainers were generally innkeepers
in sailor bars, barbers or former sailors. The birds picked
up repulsive habits such as spitting, snoring, hacking coughs
and a good vocabulary of swear words. The new owners found that
these sounds and words were almost impossible to remove from
the birds' repertoire.
Personality
Amazons
are popular pets because of their beauty, outgoing, clownish
personality, their intelligence and their ability to talk. Amazons
are very intelligent birds. This is their downfall as many quickly
outsmart their owners. They have fantastic memories and will
remember incidents and training for months and even years. These
birds are also very stubborn. Once they have decided to do something,
it will be very difficult to get them to stop. Amazons would
be hard to test for intelligence as they could think of a thousand
ways to get out of being tested. They sometimes respond to excitement
by becoming excessively excited themselves and hard to handle.
Most Amazons are outgoing, confident birds. Some species of
birds tend to keep their problems to themselves and pick their
feathers when upset. An Amazon is very open. When upset, he
quickly lets you know by screaming or biting. Amazons are seldom
stand-offish and become very involved with humans. They tend
to become too attached to their owners and will guard them jealously.
These are not birds for young children. Never allow a young
child and an Amazon together without supervision. These are
not birds for people that quickly lose their tempers either.
They require setting limits at a very early age. A pair of Amazons
set up for breeding can be dangerous. Amazons guard each other,
their young and their territory with an aggressiveness that
can put fear in the bravest human. Anything that triggers an
Amazon's breeding instinct will also trigger his aggression.
Owners of pet males should be careful when handling them during
the breeding season. Breeding pairs should have flights and
cages designed so that you do not have to invade their cage
to feed and water them.
Talking
Amazons
are popular because of their speaking ability. Double Yellows,
Napes and Blue Fronts are known for their human sounding voices.
They use inflection and seldom talk in a monotone. Some have
the uncanny ability to use their language correctly without
any formal speech training. Double Yellow Heads, Yellow Napes,
and Blue Fronts are the three most popular speaking Amazons.
Amazons also love music. They will often sing complete songs
with all the words on perfect pitch. They enjoy opera, country
western, and Lawrence Whelk type music. Hard rock may overexcite
them and even cause them to become screamers. They also enjoy
people singing to them . . . even if the person has a bad singing
voice. Amazons begin talking at an early age. Their greatest
learning time is from three months to a little over two years.
At this time of their life, some birds' ability to pick up new
phrases and words is amazing. They seem to slow down in learning
new phrases and words after that period. They still learn new
words, only not as quickly. Unless encouraged to continue to
learn words, they will almost stop by the time they reach sexual
maturity. If the Amazon is to develop into an outstanding talker,
it is very important that he receives attention and love between
birth and two years. The person that buys a young Amazon and
then ignores him, has seriously damaged his ability to talk.
Cages
The
cage should be square or rectangular. Round cages are not as
suitable as they can cause the bird to develop a nervous turning
and twisting of the head. The bars should be thick enough that
the parrot cannot bite through them. Cage doors should allow
the bird to come in and out of the cage with ease. These birds
quickly learn how to open their cages so a good lock may be
necessary. Amazons by nature enjoy climbing more than flying.
If there are no horizontal bars on the cage, be certain to supply
a playground where they can get the climbing exercise they need.
Place the Amazon cage below eye level. Sexually mature male
Amazons tend to be very aggressive during the breeding season.
You will want to keep them from becoming dominant. Position
plays a big part in domination. An average size Amazon should
have a minimum cage of 21"x 21"x 27". The bird
should extend his wings without touching the sides of his cage.
He should bring them high enough above his head so that he does
not touch the top with his wing tips. Large Amazons, such as
Mealies, may require a larger cage and small Amazons such as
White Fronted Amazons can be a little smaller. This is adequate
for the Amazon that spends time playing outside his cage. If
the bird seldom leaves his cage it should be the largest cage
you can afford that has the bars spaced 7/8" to 1"
apart. The bird should not be able to stick his head through
the bars. Since the bird will be climbing on the bars, it is
imperative that the paint or finish is lead free and non toxic.
Diet
It is essential that they learn to eat healthy, low fat food
early in life since Amazons tend to become obese as they age.
Amazons also tend to have Vitamin A deficiencies. Since one
can easily overdose with Vitamin A additives, it is important
that you include Vitamin A naturally in their diet. Some foods
containing Vitamin A are leafy dark green vegetables and yellow
vegetables such as carrots, corn, and squash. In the wild they
eat nuts, fruits, berries, pods, seeds, buds and blossoms. The
average owner of a pet Amazon should give him pellets, vegetables,
fruits, and even a small amount of seed (minus safflower and
sunflower seeds) with an occasional nut as a treat. You can
share your low fat, low salt people food with your Amazon as
well. Avoid foods with preservatives, food colorings or any
other additives. Do not give avocado, chocolate or alcohol.
Food is very important to an Amazon. Most Amazons switch to
a healthy diet easily. When you are late with their food, some
Amazons will charge and even bite you for not feeding them sooner.
Their love of food makes a good reward in training. Amazons
will do almost anything for treats.
Grooming
Many
species of Amazons are from the rain forest and enjoy a shower
or a good misting. They spread their wings and duck and bow
to get the water all over their bodies. Increasing their showers
can bring a hormone rise so be careful as the bird may be nippy
the next day. If you do not shower or mist them, some Amazons
will climb into their water dish and completely drench themselves
and the surrounding area.
Keep
both wings clipped to prevent the bird from hurting himself
by crashing into a wall or window. Clipping also helps to reduce
aggressiveness. Birds vary as individuals, therefore, for the
bird's first clipping do not cut too many feathers. He should
coast downward and break his fall, but not fly upwards. Clipping
the wing feathers too far may cause the bird to split his breast
or beak when he falls. In most Amazons, cutting all primary
wing feathers from the tip of the wing to the first brightly
colored feather works. Poorly clipped wings encourages feather
plucking and chewing. A bad clip job can also result in the
Amazon falling and hurting himself.
As
a rule, most species of Amazons prefer climbing to flying. That
does not mean they will not fly. When frightened or excited,
it only takes a matter of seconds for these birds to become
airborne. Have the bird's nails checked when clipping the wings.
Trim overgrown nails. Very overgrown nails take several times
of removing a little bit at a time or several trips to a groomer.
Do not cut the nails back too far or they will cause bleeding
and prevent the bird from perching. The Amazon may need a few
days to adjust to his shorter nails. One or two nails may bleed
during the clipping, but the groomer should cut less from the
others at the first sign of bleeding. Bleeding should stop within
minutes. A nail that bleeds for a long time may be an indication
that there is a physical problem. A trip to the vet for a complete
physical is in order. Some symptoms of liver problems begin
with bleeding that is hard to stop. Liver problems seem to crop
up with Amazons when they are about 10 years old. Keeping nails
trimmed also helps in keeping down aggression.
Never
allow unsupervised Amazons alone with children. The sexually
mature males tend to be testy during the breeding season. Most
females remain even tempered. Males make good pets but during
a brief time in their lives, they become hard to handle during
the breeding season. As they age, they do mellow if you set
limits when they are young. The males are bold birds that enjoy
showing off their vocal skills.
Amazons
are mischievous rascals. Never buy an Amazon on impulse as they
have strong personalities. Their high intelligence, speaking
ability, adaptability, hardiness, and desire of human companionship
makes them one of the best groups of parrots for pets when handled
correctly.
