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| Family Psittacidae |
Great Green Macaw
(Ara ambigua)
and Scarlet Macaw
(Ara macao)
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| Diet & Food |
In
the wild, the macaw's diet consists of a
variety of seeds, nuts, fruits and
leaves. Macaws are usually found in the
rainforest high in the emergent layer
of the canopy, the very tops of the trees.
Through observation, scientists
have found that the preferred food and
nesting grounds are in forests with
almond trees (almendro). Unfortunately,
almond wood is a highly sought after
commodity for luxury construction, and many
almond forests are being cut.
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| Breeding and Mating |
Although
they gather in a flock to sleep at night,
macaws bond in pairs and mate for
life. They breed every one to two years, and
both the male and the female
care for the young hatchlings. The parents
will not raise another nest of
eggs until the fledglings have become
independent, usually in 1 to 2 years.
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| Education
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Literature
& eBooks
Children's Classic Literature by Twain,
Bronte, Fitzgerald, Hawthorne, Thoreau and
more.
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Engangered Parrots and Macaws
In
a sense, you could call the macaw the king of the
jungle. They certainly
act like it! They don't slink around hiding in the
shadows or in the brush.
Their colorful plumage is reminiscent of Mardi Gras
and their harsh, loud
voices sound like revelers on their way home. This
means that it's impossible
to confuse them with any other species.
They fly calling loudly, and their profile is
unique, with extremely long
tail feathers and short wings. They are sociable and
you won't see them alone.
Normally they travel in pairs or groups and they are
monogamous for life.
But, it is impossible to tell male from female,
their bright plumage is the
same for both genders. § continued below ...
Populations and Habitat
Macaw is
the common name for 15 Central and South American
species. Two of these inhabit
Costa Rica, the scarlet macaw and the great green
macaw. Both bird populations
are losing their homes to deforestation and
poaching.
The scarlet macaw, locally known as Lapa Roja,
population is in danger of
disappearing completely: there are only three wild
populations in Central
America that have a long-term chance of survival--at
Carara National Park
and Corcovado in Costa Rica, and Coiba Island in
Panama--although macaws
can also be seen with regularity at Palo Verde
National Park, Santa Rosa
National Park, and other forested parts of the Gulf
of Nicoya and Osa Peninsula.
There are an estimated 200 scarlets at Carara and
1,600 at Corcovado, where
as many as 40 may be seen at one time.
| Costa Rica
Conservation Projects |
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Although macaws are the biggest attraction at
Carara, they are threatened
with extinction by poachers who take the chicks to
sell on the black market
in the U.S., despite a ban that prohibits importing
the birds. Sadly, most
of them die before they reach the US market. §
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