Blue-winged Macaw
Primolius maracana
Fairly small macaw with a bare white face that contrasts with its dark bill. It has a small red forehead, which can be quite difficult to see, a blue crown, and a red belly. The flight feathers are striking blue. Usually seen in pairs or small groups at forest edges, palm groves, and open woodlands. The flight call is a mellow “graaaa.”
Identification
It has a total length of approximately 36–43 cm (14–17 in). It has a moderately sized black bill, a long tail and a mainly green plumage. The upperside of the remiges and primary coverts are blue, as indicated by its common name. The underside of the wings is yellowish, the tail-tip, crown and cheeks are bluish, and the tail-base and small belly-patch are red. The iris is amber. It and the red-bellied macaw are the only macaws where the bare facial-skin is yellowish, but this often fades to white in captivity. Unlike the red-bellied macaw, the blue-winged has a red lower abdomen and a red lower back. In the wild, its flight pattern is said to be a distinctive 'jerky, rearing motion.'
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Primolius maracana
- Authority
- (Vieillot, 1816)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Primolius
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Black-eared Ground-Thrush
Geokichla camaronensis
A rather small, secretive, variable ground-thrush with mostly orange-rufous underparts, a rusty-brown back, double white wingbars, and a distinctive pair of vertical stripes on the face. Western races are more richly colored than eastern ones. Rare, found in pairs in scattered locations in lowland and hill forest throughout the Congo Basin. Song is undescribed; alarm is a typical high-pitched thrush “ssreee.” All other ground-thrushes have a single vertical face stripe except the larger Gray Ground-Thrush, which is paler and more washed out on the face and breast than Black-eared.
Short-tailed Starling
Aplonis minor
Glossy greenish starling with red eyes. Juvenile is brownish above, with streaked white underparts. Disjunct range overlaps with that of very similar Asian Glossy Starling in Java, Bali, central Sulawesi, and Mindanao; note present species’ proportionally shorter tail and bill, as well as its purple-glossed head and green-glossed body (Asian Glossy has green-glossed underparts and green- or blue-glossed back and wings). Inhabits forest and forest edge; unlike Asian Glossy Starling, avoids large urban spaces. Present in lowlands and foothills throughout much of range, but restricted to montane and submontane forest in Mindanao and Java. Gives various scratchy, high-pitched, metallic notes, as well as high descending “seep” notes.
Little Bee-eater
Merops pusillus
A small, mostly grass-green bee-eater with a canary-yellow throat separated from buff underparts by a black line across the throat. Singles and pairs occupy grassy savanna and wetland edges. They often perch lower than 1.5 m above the ground, and dart around hunting flying insects, then returning to the same small twig. Calls include a sibilant “s-lip” and other high-pitched notes. The Blue-breasted Bee-eater is slightly larger and has a white patch on the cheek. The much larger Cinnamon-chested Bee-eater has burnt orange underparts, and it prefers highland forest above 1800 m.
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