Blue-and-yellow macaw

Language English

Onglets

Description

Distinguishing features

A turquoise blue upper body (back, wings, tail) contrasts with the orange-yellow of its breast and belly, and the underside of its tail and wings.

The cheeks and around the eye of this large parrot are lovely milky white with fine black lines.

Like all macaws, it has a large, powerful beak. It is black for this species, just like its throat, and it has a green forehead.

Males and females are identical.

Reproduction

The blue-and-yellow macaw generally builds its nest in a cavity high up in an old Mauritia sp. palm tree.

It reaches sexual maturity at the age of 3 or 4 years. The female lays 2 or 3 white eggs, which she incubates for 24 to 28 days.

Chicks fledge after 90 days but stay with the parents for several more months.

Diet

The blue-and-yellow macaw feeds on fruit, seeds, and occasionally nectar, which it seeks in the treetops. It feeds abundantly on the fruit and seeds of Mauritia and Acromia palms. It also loves grains of the courbaril (Hymenaea courbaril), a large tree in the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family that produces very hard pods.

Predators

Large birds of prey, in particular the harpy eagle, are its predators.

Chicks in the nest are preyed on by jaguars, snakes, etc.

Habitat

The blue-and-yellow macaw lives in flooded tropical forests and gallery forests (forests along rivers in arid areas). They can also be found in swamps where Mauritia palms grow and in treed savannas.

This macaw occurs throughout the Amazon, but its full range is much wider, stretching over almost all of tropical South America, from Panama to Paraguay.

Ecology, behaviour

The blue-and-yellow macaws are easy to spot because they are very noisy. They live in small family groups or occasionally in flocks of 20 individuals or more. Flocks help to protect against predators such as the harpy eagle.

At certain times of the day, they may form large flocks with other parrot species along clay riverbanks to eat clay. The clay helps neutralize toxins found in some of the underripe fruit in their diet.

In flocks of blue-and-yellow macaws, couples can easily be recognized because they always move together. At dawn and dusk, they perform spectacular group flights between feeding and roosting areas.

Macaws use their powerful beaks to help move around in the trees.

French name

Ara bleu, ara ararauna

Scientific name

ara ararauna

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Birds

Order

Psittaciformes

Family

Psittacidae

Size

Length: 80 cm Wingspan: 104 to 114 cm

Weight

900 to 1800 g

Life span

In the wild: up to 30 or even 35 years In captivity: up to 45 years

Status

Of least concern (according to IUCN, in 2020)

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