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A green blue-fronted amazon parrot with a blue forehead and yellow face perched on a branch.
Photo: Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Blue-Fronted Amazon

Amazona aestiva

A green South American parrot with a blue forehead and yellow face, also called the turquoise-fronted amazon.

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About the Blue-Fronted Amazon

Blue-fronted amazons are about 15 inches long and weigh about 14 ounces. They are mostly green with a blue forehead, a yellow or blue face, red shoulders and a black beak. They live in forests, scrublands, savannas and palm groves of southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina, and eat fruits, seeds, flowers, nuts and young leaves.[1]

Quick facts

Scientific name
Amazona aestiva[1]
Size
About 15 inches long.[1]
Weight
About 14 ounces.[1]
Lifespan
Up to 70 years.[1]
Diet
Fruits, seeds, flowers, nuts and young leaves, including cactus fruit and palm seeds.[1]
Habitat
Forests, scrublands, savannas and palm groves.[1]
Where it lives
Southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina.[1]
Group life
Pairs within a larger flock.[1]
Babies
1 to 5 eggs in a tree hole, incubated 23 to 25 days.[1]
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN Red List, assessed 2019).[2]

Fun facts

  • Under ultraviolet light, males and females have different feather patterns.[1]
  • Blue-fronted amazons can live up to 70 years.[1]
  • Flocks use special alarm calls to warn each other of danger.[1]

Vocabulary

monogamous
Having one mate at a time, sometimes for life.
ultraviolet
A kind of light that people can't see but many birds can.
preen
To clean and arrange feathers with the beak.
pet trade
Buying and selling wild animals as pets, which can take too many from the wild.
near threatened
A conservation label meaning a species may soon be at risk of dying out if things don't improve.

See it in person

Sources

  1. [1] San Francisco Zoo & Gardens. “Blue-fronted Amazon.” https://www.sfzoo.org/blue-fronted-amazon/ (accessed 2026-10-02)
  2. [2] IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. “Amazona aestiva (Turquoise-fronted Amazon).” https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22686332/154573813 (accessed 2026-10-02)

Facts last checked 2026-10-02.

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