Scarlet Macaw - Ara macao

Like all Macaws, it is very noisy at dawn and at dusk. It is a highly gregarious creature – they are extremely sociable birds. Breeding pairs only stay together during the breeding season. Members of the same family fly very closely to each other and seek body contact when they sleep. It loves rainforests and even swamp forests. It can crack very hard nuts thanks to its powerful beak. It is the national bird of Honduras.

CLASS : Aves
ORDER : Psittaciformes
FAMILY : Psittacidae
WINGSPAN : 0.8 m
WEIGHT : 0.9- 1.5 kg
CLUTCH SIZE : 1-4 eggs
INCUBATION : 24-28 days
LIFE EXPECTANCY : 40- 50 years in the wild / 80 years in captivity
DIET : seeds, nuts, fruit, leaves, bark, nectar and flowers.
NATURAL HABITAT : it frequents a wide variety of wooded areas, including deciduous forests and open wooded areas, pine forest margins, lowland forests and gallery forests alongside rivers and streams, pastures and crops, with a scattering of trees. It can be found locally at altitudes of between 500 to 1,000 metres.
RANGE : South America

Conservation status info

LC : Least Concern
The species has declined significantly in Central America because of deforestation, changes to its habitat and illegal trade. It has become rare in a large number of regions