Red-crowned Parrot

Amazona viridigenalis · Parrots

Red-crowned Parrot

San Diego, 6 March 2026

A Red-crowned Parrot perched in the open in a San Diego park, one of a feral flock descended from escaped cage birds. The species is endangered in its native Mexico, where its range is a small patch of the north-east, and more numerous now in the cities of California than in the wild.

Perched rather than tucked into foliage, which gives a clean look at the red forecrown fading to blue across the crown and nape - the feature that separates this species from the handful of other Amazon parrots also established in Southern California, most of which lack the blue.

Red-crowned Parrot in flight

San Diego, 6 March 2026

A Red-crowned Parrot in flight over a San Diego park, heading for a nest hole in a tree. This is a Mexican bird, native to a narrow strip of the north-east of the country, where it is endangered, and doing considerably better as an introduced one: escaped and released cage birds have built self-sustaining feral flocks in several US cities, San Diego among them.

The bright red forecrown and blue-tinged nape are the field marks; the rest is the uniform green common to most Amazon parrots. The city flocks now outnumber the wild population at home.