Scarlet Macaw Ara macao Scientific name definitions

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a among the 17 extant large psittacine species commonly known as macaws that are restricted to the tropical forest of the Western Hemisphere from Mexico to Brazil. The Cuban Macaw (Ara tricolor) is the only extinct macaw today and the Spix's Macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) is extirpated from the wild and few individuals remain in captivity around the world. Macaws species are included in six different genera (Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Ara, Orthopsittaca, Primolius, and Diopsittaca) (AOU 1998, Banks 2008, Remsen et al. 2009). There are nine macaw species in the genus Ara. The Scarlet Macaw is naturally distributed over the forests of the New World Tropics (Neotropical realm). The species has been also accidentally introduced and naturalized in few urban areas in the United States, Europe and Latin America (Jonker 2005, Lara-Vásquez 2007).

This species is commonly observed flying in pairs or in family groups. It comprise two extant subspecies which have only recently been recognized, Ara macao cyanoptera from North Central America and Ara macao macao from Central Nicaragua to Brazil (Wiedenfeld 1994). In general, little is known about the life history and ecology of the species. This species is found almost exclusively in tropical evergreen and riparian forest ecosystems from southern Mexico to Brazil and is found from sea level up to 1,000 m above sea level (Forshaw 1989, 2006; Sick 1993; Iñigo-Elias 1996; Juniper and Parr 1998). Its reproduction is slow, and the breeding season varies with the latitude, rainy seasons, and fruit availability in each region of the American continent. In average the species lays one or two eggs, inside natural cavities that are either natural holes (i.e., broken tree limb) or made by another bird such as large woodpeckers (i.e., primary excavator) and some times they even excavated their own cavities in soft snags (G. Carreon, pers. comm.). They can use as a nesting site both live trees or snags. The chicks hatch on average after 28 days of incubation and remain in the nest until the age of 120 to 137 days. Thus they spend between three and four months in the nest. The parents feed them four to 15 times a day. The young birds fly out of the nest together with the parents at between 97 and 140 days of age. They remain with the parents for up to almost one year, until the pair begins to nest again, although it has been recorded that on some occasions the pair will not nest again until the second year. It is estimated that the young birds do not reach sexual maturity until almost three or four years of age. The diet of this macaw consists of fruit, seeds, pods, leaf shoots, flowers and occasionally insects. It is known that it feeds on approximately 25 families, and 126 species, of plants (Forshaw 1989, Iñigo-Elias 1996). In South America, Scarlet Macaw and other psittacine species concentrate in large mixed flocks to feed in clays (geophagy) (Emmons and Stark 1979, Burger and Gochfeld 2003).

84–89 cm; 900–1490 g. Head and most of body red; large bare facial area extending round eye white; bill whitish above, blackish below ; greater and median wing-coverts yellow edged with green; flight-feathers mainly blue; underwing mostly red; back , rump and tail-coverts pale blue; tail red tipped blue. Immature has shorter tail. Race <em>cyanopterus</em> larger, with yellow wing-coverts tipped blue .

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

• Blue-and-yellow x Scarlet Macaw (hybrid) Ara ararauna x macao
• Great Green x Scarlet Macaw (hybrid) Ara ambiguus x macao

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Largely in humid terra firme lowland evergreen forest and gallery woodland in savannas, often in vicinity of exposed river banks and clearings with big trees, and sometimes entering drier formations; tends to be confined to riverine forest in Guianas and more open deciduous or pine forest in Central America, sometimes roosting in mangroves; up to around 500 m, ranging at least formerly up to 1000 m in Central America.

Seasonal movements in search of fruit occur, but pattern not determined other than that in Colombia in “summer” it penetrates semi-arid forest, and that it was a winter visitor in very large numbers, now all gone, to Pacific swamp and tropical deciduous forest in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Seeds of Jacaranda, Dialium, Sclerolobium, Hymenaea, Caryocar, Licarria, Hevea, Guarea, Piptadenia, Porouma, Euterpe, Cedrela, Hura, Terminalia, Eschweilera, Sapium, flowers/­nectar of Virola, Erythrina, Ochroma, Quararibea, Combretum, leaves of Laetia, Aspidosperma, Licania, Schizolobium; pulp/ fruit of Inga, Micropholis, Sterculia, Bursera, Ficus, Scheelea, Spondias, Dipteryx, Borismene, Anomospermum, Sorocea, Pseudolmedia, Ampelocera, fruits and/or seeds of Anacardium, Bernoullia, Brosimum, Enterolobium, Pithecellobium, Byttneria, Leonia, Couma and Goupia; fruit, seeds, bark and leaves of Ceiba; fruit, seeds and flowers of Tabebuia, arils of Virola and Cupania, sap of Clarisia; in Brazil Bertholettia, Lecythis and Syagrus fruit appear to be favoured. In Central America birds noted to eat Pinus caribaea seeds, crushing the cones and dropping a shower of scales.

Loud and harsh calls similar to other large Ara macaws. Flight call a rasping “raah”, often doubled and sounding less nasal and more grating than e.g. A. ararauna. When perched, calls are quieter and more varied.

Mar in Mexico; Apr in Nicaragua; Oct–Apr in Costa Rica, with flying young noted as early as Feb on Coiba I, Panama; evidence for Mar in French Guiana; Oct–Mar in C Brazil; Nov–Apr in Peru. Nest in large natural cavity 7–40 m up in tall tree  , commonly in Iriartea palms in Peru, where competition with A. chloropterus prevents use of Dipteryx and other hardwoods; in Costa Rica Schizolobium and Ceiba preferred. Eggs 1–4; incubation 24–28 days; nestling period 14 weeks. In one study, nine out of 14 nests successfully produced one or more young; of the 21 nestlings involved, ten (48%) fledged, our (19%) died of apparent malnutrition, and seven (33%) were predated. In Costa Rica recruitment rates, 1990–1992, varied from 6·2% to 10·2%.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). CITES I. Common over much of extensive range where habitat remote from human disturbance, with a density of 1 pair/km² in Manu National Park, Peru. However, in Middle America (where once revered as an oracle of the sun) the race cyanopterus now survives only in the Lacandón Forest, Mexico; it is now mainly confined to one area in Belize (upper Raspaculo and Macal basins); it is extinct in most of Guatemala save the Petén; it is extinct in El Salvador; it is extinct or virtually so on the Pacific slope of Honduras and Nicaragua, although a relict population survives on the Cosigüina Peninsula in the latter, while on Caribbean side 1000–1500 birds may survive in Honduras centred on Gracias a Dios department (a good number are protected within Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve), and a population persists in E Nicaragua; altogether the total number of this subspecies is estimated at c. 4000. Habitat destruction and considerable trapping pressure , including for household pets locally, are responsible for this situation. In Belize, the Chalillo Dam eliminated habitat in the Macal watershed (1 Barcott, B. (2008). The last flight of the Scarlet Macaw. Random House, New York. Close ). The nominate race has also suffered substantial declines in settled and developing areas, and relict populations survive in Costa Rica , the best protected being in Corcovado National Park, and in Panama the stronghold is now I Coiba owing to its status as a penal settlement, birds at the only other site (Azuero Peninsula) suffering from habitat loss and persecution by Indians using their feathers; the total Central American population of nominate birds may be just c. 1000. In French Guiana the species is less common than A. chloropterus, with most in coastal forests. Habitat loss is a major threat throughout its range, but this large, showy macaw is also affected by illegal capture and trade in almost every country it inhabits. Conservation initiative in Carara Biological Reserve, Costa Rica, involves education programmes for local communities, visitors and guards, community development with ecotourism promotion, and ongoing intensive biological study. Provision of nestboxes made from Iriartea palm stems has been highly successful in improving reproductive output of the species in Peru, where the main constraint appears to be nest-site availability.