Yellow Shoulder Amazons Parrots

Yellow-shouldered Parrots mostly eat fruit, seeds, and cactus flowers. They are highly sociable birds and roost communally in tall trees, with as many as 700 birds together. They have a curious, inquisitive, and playful nature. Yellow-shouldered Parrots are very noisy; they make dry rattling and trilling calls.

The Yellow-shouldered Parrot has a very small range, only occurring along the northern coast of Venezuela and the islands off its north coast, such as Margarita Island. Yellow-shouldered Parrots live in desert shrublands with vegetation of low thorn bushes or trees and cacti. In the breeding season, usually between March and September, parrots form pairs and nest in holes in trees, cacti, or cliffs, where they lay between 2 and 5 eggs.

The Yellow-shouldered Parrot is at threat from both the pet trade and habitat loss, and it’s very small range area increases the impact of these problems. Some of this habitat loss is due to overgrazing by goats. On Margarita Island (where WLT is working with project partners Provita), a lot of its habitat is being lost as a result of tourist developments. There are also issues concerning increased predation due to introduced mammal species and conflicts with farmers as the birds may damage crops.