Southern Mealy Amazon / Parrot

Southern Mealy Amazon Amazona farinosa
(aka Mealy Parrot)

Brazilian name: papagaio-moleiro

Mealy Parrot, Guajará-Mirim, Rondônia, Brazil, March 2003 - click for larger image

Brazil and Ecuador

The Southern Mealy Amazon is distributed from Panama through Colombia and northern Venezuela, in the Amazon and Orinoco Basins and in south-east Brazil. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found mainly in humid forest particularly on terra firme.

Its name derives from the powdery bloom on its generally green plumage. The bill is darker above and lighter below and it has a very large white ring round the eye. It sometimes has a small yellow patch on the crown but this is not always present as in these cases. It also has a distinctive two-tone tail with a green base contrasting with the pale greenish-yellow of the outer (distal) half. A red speculum can usually be seen.

Mealy Parrot, Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso, Brazil, December 2006 - click for larger image

It feeds on fruit, seeds and flowers.

Because of the deforestation in the Amazon Basin and its susceptibility to hunting and trapping, the Mealy Parrot is classified as Near Threatened.

Mealy Parrot, Sani Lodge, Ecuador, November 2019 - click for larger image

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