Kawall's Parrot Amazona kawalli Scientific name definitions

Described as recently as 1989, and also sometimes known as the White-cheeked Parrot, this Brazilian endemic’s English name celebrates the important role of the aviculturist Nelson Kawall in determining its specific status. Strange parrots, usually concluded to be just aberrant specimens of Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinosa), had been known since the very early 1900s, but it was not until the mid-1980s that sufficient evidence could be gathered to definitively describe the new species, although even then, some doubts as to its status were subsequently expressed. However, with time, knowledge, and increasing fieldwork, we now know Kawall’s Parrot to be found across quite large swathes of southern Amazonia. It is most easily identified from the widely sympatric Mealy Parrot by its distinctive voice, but given good views in flight or when perched, the red patches on the tail sides, narrower pale terminal tail-band, white skin at the base of the bill, lack of white around the eye, and lack of red in the forewing should all identify the Kawall’s Parrot. The species appears to be principally but perhaps not exclusively reliant on seasonally flooded forests and other transitional woodland.

35–36 cm. Very close to A. farinosa but with narrow white strip  of bare skin bordering base of bill, and periorbital ring mid-grey; tail  shorter with correspondingly reduced yellowish terminal band, with scarlet and some blue on basal half of outermost tail feathers; also lacks red on leading edge of wing  (sympatric A. farinosa possess this) and the floury glaucous tone to the upperparts, except the mantle, which gives A. farinosa its name. Immature undescribed.

Amazon Basin in Brazil (R Juruá E to R Tapajós and NC Mato Grosso); also recorded N of Amazon (Jaú National Park, in NC Amazonas) (1 Borges, S. H., and R. A. Almeida (2011). Birds of the Jaú National Park and adjacent areas, Brazilian Amazon: new species records with reanalysis of a previous checklist. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 19(2):108–133. Close ).

Virtually no information. A bird recorded feeding on the bark of a Macrolobium tree.

A variety of screeches and rolling barks with a nasal tonal quality, overall with less variation than A. farinosa. Flight call a repeated, rolling, nasal “crraow” (not bisyllabic as is often the case in A. farinosa).

Not globally threatened. Currently considered Near Threatened. CITES II. Very recently discovered, and still known only from three wild-caught museum skins and a few captive birds, but the general evidence, particularly the wide range over which records are distributed, indicates this is an uncommon but cryptic species with no serious current threats. Captive bird found in 1996 on edge of Amazonas National Park, suggesting presence there.