Yellow Nape color question

For a little while now, Don has been wanting a bird of his very OWN. Not just step-birds lol. He has been in love with Amazons (especially Yellow Napes) since I told him NO a white too would not be a good fit for us. The Severe Macaw still not the best choice I didn't think. Thinking about particulars about us, our personality, lifestyle, routine, etc. I agreed that in the future AFTER some priorities get straightened out again since a recent upheaval in our life, an Amazon just might be a good bird for him and our life.

Today I went to get some Harrison's at a bird store, and I saw some rehomes for sale - an extra GIGANTIC 15 year old male YN named Joe. They said he weights almost as much as a large Macaw! He was literally HUGE.

Then in the cage below him was a bonded "couple" of YN named Jackie and Joe. Yes, the male was named Joe just like the single guy in the upper cage LOL. I couldn't believe that a rehome Sun Conure in the store was ALSO named Joe!!!:11: What the heck?!! I didn't think "Joe" was such a common name for birds :52:

I did check out this thread http://www.parrotforums.com/amazons/45276-yellow-naped-classification.html and read the links but didn't answer my question.

ANYWAY... My question stems from something I've noticed about different Yellow Napes. I can tell they're different subspecies, but wondered what they were called. I realize it's not easy telling some apart even with a picture, but someone might know the answer with my description of this distinct trait... Some YN's belly (front of body) color is grass green. Definitely just "green" like the extra large single Joe mentioned above. Then, there are other YN like the couple Joe and Jackie which are definitely a lighter shade of green with an unmistakable BLUE-ish colored wash over it. Kind of like the shade of a BFA's green belly.
Though all YN's, (and actually all Amazons) are beautiful, I especially LOVE the look of that "blue wash" over the lighter green on one of the subspecies.

Anyone know which subspecies that is? Henpecked? Anyone??

There's really only 2 subspecies here in the US, and they are being hybridized everyday. If it's a larger YN ,it's probably a male A. o. auropalliata. I have/had some that weighted 800-900 grams. Mealy sized birds with mealy size feet to match. A. o. pravipes is smaller with much smaller feet. parvipes generally have more yellow and come from further South in the YNA range. Also parvipes tend to be more coastal. Generally zons from lower elevations (more open) tend to be lighter (yellow ) in color than zons from higher elavtions and denser forest. The "greener/bluer" birds will have more of the blueish tint your looking for, to bled with the darker/denser forest.This is true for most zons, DYH,Mealy,YNA,BFA,etc.

Tell him he wants a mealy. Why? Because we live in a no zon zone here and then I can live vicariously through you. I think the mealys are the neatest.

Yellow napes CAN get up to 14/15" and 500+ grams. Don't know much about classifying napes, but he sure sounds like a very big boy! If you can, you should get some pics of him

Kiwibird said:

Yellow napes CAN get up to 14/15" and 500+ grams. Don't know much about classifying napes, but he sure sounds like a very big boy! If you can, you should get some pics of him

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Like henpecked said he had 800-900 gram YN's, this one I'm sure was that big. The girl said he weighed almost as much as a macaw. Made me do a double take I couldn't believe it, I'd never seen one quite that large. I did try to take a pic, but sadly in the pic it did not show off his great size, so I deleted it.

thekarens said:

Tell him he wants a mealy. Why? Because we live in a no zon zone here and then I can live vicariously through you. I think the mealys are the neatest.

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Ok, I'll tell him that The thing is, he'll only consider a bird (species) he sees in person. We don't see Mealy's out here. If I show him a pic of something he'll just say uh huh... but he's seen and held enough YN in person that he liked, that's why he wants one.

henpecked said:

There's really only 2 subspecies here in the US, and they are being hybridized everyday. If it's a larger YN ,it's probably a male A. o. Auropillitia. I have/had some that weighted 800-900 grams. Mealy sized birds with mealy size feet to match. A. o. pravipes is smaller with much smaller feet. parvipes generally have more yellow and come from further South in the YNA range. Also parvipes tend to be more coastal. Generally zons from lower elevations (more open) tend to be lighter (yellow ) in color than zons from higher elavtions and denser forest. The "greener/bluer" birds will have more of the blueish tint your looking for, to bled with the darker/denser forest.This is true for most zons, DYH,Mealy,YNA,BFA,etc.

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Too bad the subspecies get mixed up Just like Eclectus, Meyer's parrots... People just breed away with no regard. So it sounds like there could be color variations within the same subspecies? All 3 of these zons were big and had big feet, yet were 2 distinctly different types of green.