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The animal on the cover of Hands-On Programming with R is an orange-winged Amazon parrot (Amazona amazonica). Loros guaros, as the birds are known locally, reside year-round in the humid tropics east of the Andes in South America, from Colombia and Venezuela in the north to Central Brazil in the south.

Orange-winged Amazons are both voluble and sociable. Quiet only when feeding, these birds roost communally in tree tops with as many as a thousand counterparts. Males of the species, who regurgitate food for a female partner while she incubates eggs and regurgitates food in turn to feed the brood, keep quarters near the nest during the day but return to the flock at night. They are often seen on morning and evening flights from tree-top roosts to feeding sites or nests in tree cavities.

The orange-winged variety displays the generally green plumage typical to other Amazon parrots, from whom it is distinguished by its orange speculum feathers. The forehead of the orange-winged Amazon is, like that of the blue-fronted Amazon, covered in blue feathers which give way to yellow on the crown and cheeks. The horn color at the base of the orange-winged Amazon’s beak becomes a dark gray at the tip. Males and females exhibit no stable difference in appearance.

Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world. To learn more about how you can help, go to animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Meyers Kleines Lexicon. The cover fonts are ...

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