The Tres Marías amazon (''Amazona oratrix tresmariae'') is a subspecies of bird in subfamily

Arinae The neotropical parrots or New World parrots comprise about 150 species in 32 genera found throughout South America, South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and the southern United States. Among them are some of the most familia ...

of the family

Psittacidae The Family (biology), family Psittacidae or holotropical parrots is one of three families of true parrots. It comprises the 12 species of subfamily Psittacinae (the Afrotropics, Afrotropical parrots) and 167 of subfamily Arinae (the New World or ...

, the African and New World parrots. It is endemic to the Islas Marías off the

Pacific coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Taxonomy

The Tres Marías amazon was formally described in 1900 by the American naturalist Edward William Nelson. He considered it as a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the yellow-headed amazon (''Amazona oratrix'') and introduced the trinomial name ''Amazona oratrix tresmariae''. Frank Gill,

Pamela Rasmussen Pamela Cecile Rasmussen (born October 16, 1959) is an American ornithology, ornithologist and expert on Asian birds. She was formerly a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., and is based at the Michigan State Uni ...

and David Donsker in the list maintained on behalf of the

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

(IOC) treat the Tres Marías amazon as a subspecies.

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding i ...

's ''

Handbook of the Birds of the World The ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' (HBW) is a multi-volume series produced by the Spanish publishing house Lynx Edicions in partnership with BirdLife International. It is the first handbook to cover every known living species of bird. ...

'' (HBW), the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

, and the Howard and Moore checklist all retain it as a subspecies of the yellow-headed amazon.Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, R. A. Jiménez, A. W. Kratter, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2022. Check-list of North American Birds (online). American Ornithological Society. https://checklist.aou.org/taxaHBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022 Prior to 2023, the IOC consisdered the Tres Marías amazon to be a full species, ''Amazona tresmariae''.

Description

The Tres Marías amazon is long. The sexes are the same. Their upperparts are pale grass green with some darker feather tips and paler uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

. Their head, neck, throat, and upper breast are bright yellow and their lower breast and belly are bluish green. Their tail is mostly green with yellowish green tips and red at the base of the outer feathers. The leading edge of their wing and their carpal area are red. Their

primaries Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

and inner secondaries have green bases, the outer secondaries have red bases, and all are blue to blackish or bluish violet at the end. The rest of their underwing is green. Their iris is orange or amber, their bill pale to grayish horn-colored, and their legs and feet gray.Ruth, J. M. (2020). Yellow-headed Parrot (''Amazona oratrix''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.yehpar.01 retrieved March 3, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The Tres Marías amazon is restricted to the Islas Marías, a small

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

about off the coast of

Nayarit Nayarit, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in Municipalities of Nayarit, 20 municipalit ...

. It primarily inhabits forest but has been noted roosting in

Agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plan ...

plantations.

Behavior

Feeding

The diet of the Tres Marías amazon has not been described separately from that of the yellow-headed parrot ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'', which like most ''Amazonas'' parrots feeds mostly on seeds and fruits.

Breeding

The breeding biology of the Tres Marías amazon has not been described separately from that of the yellow-headed parrot. That species as a whole nests in tree cavities. Their clutch size is two or three eggs.

Vocalization

As of early 2023 xeno-canto had no recordings of Tres Marías amazon vocalizations and the

Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a member-supported unit of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, which studies birds and other wildlife. It is housed in the Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity in Sapsucker Woods Sanctuar ...

's Macaulay Library had very few.

In aviculture

In aviculture, a variety of yellow-headed amazon has been selectively bred to maximize the yellow coloration of the head. Called the "Magna", it closely resembles the Tres Marías amazon. Stoodley, J. 1990, Genus Amazona, reports A.o.’magna’ to be a naturally occurring variation within the A.o.oratrix species dynamics, and is most prevalent in the wild state in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, south of Monterey. Because of the bird’s advanced colouring, it has been selected in preference to other colour forms of A.o.oratrix in aviculture but not bred as a mutation or selectively colour enhanced variation to the ‘norm’. Smith,D. 2025

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

follows HBW taxonomy, and so has not assessed the Tres Marías amazon separately from the yellow-headed amazon ''sensu lato''. The species as a whole is Endangered, with an estimated population of 4700 mature individuals that is believed to be decreasing. Illegal capture for the pet trade has caused much of the decline and ongoing habitat loss is another significant threat. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (

CITES CITES (shorter acronym for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of inte ...

) lists the yellow-headed amazon in Appendix I.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2841436 Tres Marías amazon Endemic birds of Western Mexico Fauna of Islas Marías Tres Marías amazon Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN