🐾 Scarlet Macaw

Scarlet Macaw

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Who it is

• Scientific name: Ara macao
• Family & relatives: A large parrot in the family Psittacidae, related to other macaws, amazons, and parakeets.
• How to spot it: A big, brilliant parrot with bright red feathers, blue and yellow wings, a long tail, and a strong hooked beak.

Its body & abilities

• Size: About 81 to 96 cm long, much of it tail.
• Weight: Roughly 0.9 to 1.5 kg (2 to 3 lb).
• Body & adaptations: Its powerful hooked beak cracks hard nuts, and two toes point forward and two back to grip and climb.
• Top speed: A strong flier that can cruise up to about 56 km/h (35 mph).
• Strength: Its beak is strong enough to crack open the hardest nuts that few other animals can eat.
• Senses: Sharp color vision and good hearing, well suited to life in the bright rainforest canopy.
• Growing up: Chicks hatch bare and helpless, are fed by both parents, and leave the nest at about three months.

Where it lives

• Habitat: Tropical rainforests and nearby woodlands, especially tall trees near rivers.
• Where in the world: From southern Mexico through Central America into the Amazon of South America.
• Territory: Pairs and flocks range widely to feed but return to favorite roosting and nesting trees.

What it eats

• Diet: A plant eater that feasts on fruit and nuts and drinks from rivers and tree holes.
• Favorite foods: Fruit, seeds, nuts, and flowers, plus mineral-rich clay it nibbles from riverbanks.
• How it hunts: Not a hunter; it climbs and flies through the treetops picking fruit and cracking nuts with its beak.

How it behaves

• How it moves: Flies powerfully across the forest and climbs branches using its beak and feet like extra hands.
• When it is active: Active by day, feeding in the morning and evening and resting in the trees at midday.
• Family life: Very social, flying in noisy flocks and forming pairs that stay together for life.
• How it talks: Very loud, using squawks, screeches, and squawking calls to stay in touch across the forest.
• Babies: A pair nests in a hole high in a tree, where the female lays two or three eggs and both parents raise the chicks.

Its place in nature

• Role in nature: An important seed spreader in the rainforest; eagles, hawks, and snakes prey on it and its eggs.
• Conservation: Listed as Least Concern by the IUCN overall, but some local populations are threatened by trapping and habitat loss.
• Dangers: Threatened mainly by capture for the pet trade, loss of nesting trees, and natural predators.

Life & legacy

• How long it lives: About 40 to 50 years in the wild and even longer in captivity.
• In our culture: A dazzling symbol of the rainforest and of Central and South America, loved for its bright colors.
• Where to see it: Rainforests of Costa Rica, Peru, and the Amazon, plus reputable zoos and bird sanctuaries.
• Fun fact: Scarlet macaws can learn to copy sounds and words, and pairs often fly so close their wings nearly touch.