Blue-and-yellow Macaw
Ara ararauna
Enormous parrot with a long, pointed tail. Unmistakable: cerulean upperparts and golden-yellow underparts with a white face and black patch on the throat. Could only be confused with Blue-throated Macaw, which is rare and local in Bolivia only and has a more extensive blue throat and a less extensive white face. Found in lowland rainforests and savannas from eastern Panama to Brazil, often in more open habitats than other macaws. Usually found in pairs, which fly together and perch in the canopy. Can gather in small groups, especially at fruiting trees or clay licks. Nests in cavities. Listen for raucous calls, typical of large macaws.
Identification
These birds can reach a length of 76–86 cm (30–34 in) and weigh 0.9–1.5 kg (2–3 lb), making them some of the larger members of their family. They are vivid in appearance with bright aqua blue feathers on the top of their body except for the head, which is lime colored. The bottom, however, is a rich deep yellow/light orange. Their beak is black, as well as the feathers under their chin. Its feet are of a gray color, save for black talons. The bird has white skin, with its face having nearly no feathers beside a few black ones spaced apart from each other forming a striped pattern around the eyes. The irises are pale light yellow.<p>Blue-and-yellow macaws can live from 30 to 35 years in the wild, and reach sexual maturity between the ages of 3 and 6 years.<p>Little variation in plumage is seen across the range. Some birds have a more orange or "butterscotch" underside color, particularly on the breast. This was often seen in Trinidad birds and others of the Caribbean area. The blue-and-yellow macaw uses its powerful beak for breaking nutshells, and for climbing up and hanging from trees. As well as nuts, it will also feed on seeds, fruits, vegetable matter, bark and leaves, also insects, snails and small animals.
Taxonomy
The blue-and-yellow macaw was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus ararauna. This macaw is now one of the eight extant species within the Ara genus, first proposed in 1799 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède. The genus name is from ará meaning "macaw" in the Tupi language of Brazil. The word is an onomatopoeia based on the sound of their call. The specific epithet ararauna comes from the Tupi Arára úna meaning "big dark parrot" for the hyacinth macaw. The word ararauna had been used by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in 1648 in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
- Scientific name
- Ara ararauna
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Psittaciformes
- Family
- Psittacidae
- Genus
- Ara
Range and habitat
This species occurs in Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, Suriname, French Guiana, Venezuela, Guyana, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Paraguay. The range extends slightly into Central America, where it is restricted to Panama. While most breed in rural and forested areas, small numbers breed in urban cities such as Rondonópolis, Mato Grosso, Brazil, nesting in dead palms planted for ornamental purposes alongside city roads. Although they were nearly wiped out in Trinidad due to human activity during the 1970s, a recent programme of reintroduction has proved successful. Between 1999 and 2003, wild-caught blue-and-yellow macaws were translocated from Guyana to Trinidad, in an attempt to reestablish the species in a protected area around the Nariva Swamp; despite this, the IUCN still lists them as extirpated from the country. A small breeding population descended from introduced birds is found in Puerto Rico, and another has inhabited Miami-Dade County, Florida, since the mid-1980s.
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
The blue-and-yellow macaw is on the verge of being extirpated in Paraguay, but it still remains widespread and fairly common in a large part of mainland South America. The species is therefore listed as Least Concern by BirdLife International. Its wild population has not been quantified but is believed to be above 10,000 individuals and is in decline. It is listed on CITES Appendix II, trade restricted.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Chilean Flamingo
Phoenicopterus chilensis
Widespread and often numerous; found at shallow lakes and lagoons from the high Andes to Patagonian steppe and even in coastal waters. Adult is distinctive: pale pink with a salmon-pink “bustle” and grayish legs with red feet and “knees.” Immature often obviously smaller than adult, but has longer bill “hook” than the smaller and shorter-legged James’s Flamingo. Chilean Flamingo lacks the clean-cut black triangle on closed wings seen on Andean Flamingo. Far-carrying calls can suggest honking of geese.
Tibetan Sand-Plover
Anarhynchus atrifrons
Medium-sized plover with a pale throat, brown back, and white belly. Breeding adults have a black mask and a bright orange chest and neck; males average brighter than females. Non-breeding and immature birds are brownish above and white below, with a variable white forehead and eyebrow. Compare with slightly larger Greater Sand-Plover; Tibetan is proportionally smaller-headed and darker-legged, and its shorter bill has a slight bulge at the tip. Smaller Kentish Plover can be similar in non-breeding plumage; Tibetan is taller and longer-legged, without Kentish’s strong white neck band. Very difficult to distinguish from Siberian Sand-Plover, especially nonbreeding and immature birds, though identification can often be presumed by range. In breeding plumage, note the more extensive black mask of Tibetan, typically lacking the white spot on the forehead of Siberian. In nonbreeding plumage, look for a generally broken breast band and clean white flanks in Tibetan. In areas of overlap many birds best left unidentified. Breeds on margins of high-elevation lakes and rivers in China and Mongolia; winters on coastal mudflats, beaches, and inland lakes from Africa to Indonesia.
Brewer's Blackbird
Euphagus cyanocephalus
Breeding males are glossy black with purplish head and greenish sheen on body. Nonbreeding males have pale eyebrows and staring yellow eye. Females are plain dark brown and typically have dark eyes. Forages by walking on ground. Sometimes in mixed flocks with other blackbirds at feedlots. Also, walks along parking lots, golf courses, or roadsides. Females similar to Brown-headed Cowbird, but with longer, thinner bill and longer tail than cowbird.
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