(I could have titled this thread "Houston, we have an amazon" but that would've been lame). Anyway, Houston has bred a St. Vincent amazon, the third bred at the zoo since achieving a world-first breeding of the species in 1972. They now have seven individuals at the zoo. They are the only zoo in the USA with the species. Very exciting news, for the St. Vincent amazon and for the zoo. Houston Zoo welcomes birth of rare parrot | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
Not entirely so. At least two pairs of St. Vincent's amazons are in private hands in the US! Hayle Zoo in UK bred them too some time previously. And the rest of the captive population is on St. Vincent itself. Must check whether these have bred at all ....!!! I do sincerely hope the second potential pair at Houston; a wildborn male and the 1999 born female will start to breed soonish. It is encouraging though that Houston lets its St. Vincent's amazons the space to choose their own partner. Amazons are just inclined that way and more and more success in breeding and rearing chicks is achieved in this manner.
I think there are far more St. Vincent's amazons in privat hands that it might appear. I can serve only with an example from my country. In a Czech book about amazon species by M.Vasicek, the author mentions a Czech privat parrot keeper, that just bred 4 chicks (from 3 pairs) in one year (he must refer to the year 1999 or 2000). And he mentions at least one other Czech privat owner of this species.
