Scarlet macaw

The geographic range of the scarlet macaw extends from southern Mexico to southern Brazil. It is found in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama in Central America. In South America, it is mainly found in the Amazon. Note that an isolated population exists in northern Colombia. It is a bird that is found mostly below 500 meters in altitude.
There are 2 subspecies: A.m. macao, from Costa Rica to South America, and A.m. cyanoptera, from southeastern Mexico to Belize and Nicaragua.
It prefers humid tropical forests but is also found in mangroves and drier, less wooded areas.

Scarlet macaws form faithful pairs for life. However, they gather in groups at night. Once paired, they are almost inseparable, flying together or resting together in the nest. They show affection by preening each other’s feathers and licking each other’s faces.
These birds mostly live in the canopy. They use their feet a lot to handle food. In fact, it seems they mostly use their left foot.
They communicate with each other through many vocalizations and postures.

The breeding period does not occur everywhere at the same time. It stretches from October to April depending on the geographical areas. Nests are built high up, between 7 and 40 meters high, in trees within natural cavities to be protected from potential predators. The female lays between 1 and 4 white eggs, which are mainly incubated between 24 and 28 days by the female. Afterwards, the young remain in the nest for another 14 weeks before flying off. It is therefore mostly the male who feeds the young by regurgitating food. The young stay with the parents for 1 or 2 years before becoming independent and leaving. The pair reproduces every one or two years and the success rate is about 50%. The young reach sexual maturity at around 3 or 4 years old. Longevity is 40 to 50 years in the wild, but in captivity they can reach up to 75 years.

Scarlet macaws are strictly herbivorous. They mainly eat fruits, nuts, and seeds, but occasionally supplement their meals with flowers and nectar. The fruits they consume are very often not yet ripe. In fact, the hard pulp can then only be accessed by birds with a strong beak. The powerful beak of scarlet macaws therefore allows them to exploit a food resource not accessible to most other birds. This beak also makes it easy to crack nuts. They occasionally eat clay to aid in the digestion of tannins present in unripe fruits.

When food resources are abundant, it is not uncommon to see scarlet macaws sharing meals with other parrot species.

They play an important role in the ecosystem since they act as seed dispersers.

The young are targeted by many arboreal predators such as snakes, monkeys, and jaguars, but other predators like eagles and hawks can attack adults.

Macaws are birds that support ecotourism. Many tourists, both local and international, visit certain well-known birdwatching sites in South America such as in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, or Venezuela.

There are many threats to the scarlet macaw. In fact, local populations have suffered a great decline due to deforestation and the destruction of their habitat. Added to this are removals for commercialization. Indeed, poachers do not hesitate to cut down the tree where the nest is located in order to capture the young. This practice has a double effect, because in addition to capturing the birds, it also eliminates a potential nesting site.

The scarlet macaw is listed in Appendix I of CITES. It is currently classified as LC by the IUCN.

Discover other animal species from the Americas: Brazilian tapir, Emperor tamarin, Cotton-top tamarin, South American sea lion, California sea lion, Maned wolf, Giant anteater, Golden eagle, Hyacinth macaw, Raccoon, Red coati, Puma, Wolverine, Jaguar, Snowy owl, Squirrel monkey.