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Lear's macaw
Lear's macaw (Anodorhynchus leari), also known as the indigo macaw, is a large all-blue Brazilian parrot, a member of a large group of neotropical parrots known as macaws. It was first described by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. Lear's macaw is 70–75 cm (27+1⁄2–29+1⁄2 in) long and weighs around 950 g (2 lb 2 oz). It is coloured almost completely blue, with a yellow patch of skin at the base of the heavy, black bill.
Although there are records of the macaw from Britain from the early 1830s, this bird was only generally recognised as an independent species in the late 1970s. It is rare with a highly restricted native range, which was only discovered in 1978, although intensive conservation efforts have increased the world population about thirtyfold in the first two decades of the 21st century. It inhabits a dry desert-like shrubby environment known as caatinga, and roosts and nests in cavities in sandstone cliffs. It mostly feeds on the nuts of the palm species Syagrus coronata, as well as raiding maize from local farmers. Its ecology also appears linked to cattle ranching.
Lear's macaw was named after the famous poet, Edward Lear, who was also an accomplished artist. In his teens in the early 1830s, Lear published a book of drawings and paintings of live parrots in zoos and collections, Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots. One of his paintings in his book strongly resembles this species, and although at the time he titled the work as 'hyacinth macaw' — a larger, darker species with a differently shaped patch of yellow skin adjacent to the base of the bill, which it closely resembles — not everyone agreed, and a quarter century later, in 1856, the illustration was given a species description by the French ornithologist and nephew of Emperor Napoleon, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who chose to commemorate the poet in the specific name. Most authorities, however, were unconvinced of the distinctness of the new taxon. The rarely seen bird was not considered a distinct species until 1978, when German-born, Brazilian-naturalised ornithologist Helmut Sick finally located the wild population.
Lear's macaw is 70–75 cm (27+1⁄2–29+1⁄2 in) long and weighs around 950 g (2 lb 2 oz).
The body, tail, and wings are dark metallic blue with a faint, often barely visible, tinge of green, and the head is a slightly paler shade. It has an area of pale-yellow skin adjacent to the base of its beak, and orange-yellow eye rings. It has a large, blackish beak and dark grey feet.
Lear's macaw is similar to the larger hyacinth macaw and the slightly smaller glaucous macaw. The hyacinth macaw can be distinguished by its darker plumage, lack of greenish tinge, and a differently shaped patch of yellow skin adjacent to the base of the bill. The glaucous macaw is paler and has a more greyish head.
The primary diet of Lear's macaw are the nuts (as many as 350 per day) of the palm Syagrus coronata, locally known as licuri, but the seeds of Melanoxylon, Jatropha mollissima, Dioclea, Spondias tuberosa, Schinopsis brasiliensis and Zea mays are also eaten, as well as the flowers of Agave.
The macaw usually forages in groups. They preferentially feed on the palms where they grow in groves, mixed together with taller trees. At least thirty confirmed feeding localities are known throughout the range. A tall tree is selected by the flock as base to carefully inspect the feeding area. First a pair descends to the level of the palms to assess the suitability, the pair then returns to base, and then the entire flock descends to decide if it is worth staying around. If it is, then the macaws generally feed directly at the site, tearing the fibrous pulp off the fruit to obtain the extremely hard and thick-shelled nut. The pulp is discarded. The heavy bills appear to have evolved specifically to crack open the palm nuts with a chisel-shaped edge, being precisely of the correct size and shape. Upon occasion the birds maw fly off to a better perch to consume the nut, sometimes even carrying a branchlet with a few fruit. Such perches are generally a branch of a tall tree or a cliff face, and the ground below such a perch will become littered with piles of cracked palm nut shells, and are thus easily spotted.
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Lear's macaw
Lear's macaw (Anodorhynchus leari), also known as the indigo macaw, is a large all-blue Brazilian parrot, a member of a large group of neotropical parrots known as macaws. It was first described by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. Lear's macaw is 70–75 cm (27+1⁄2–29+1⁄2 in) long and weighs around 950 g (2 lb 2 oz). It is coloured almost completely blue, with a yellow patch of skin at the base of the heavy, black bill.
Although there are records of the macaw from Britain from the early 1830s, this bird was only generally recognised as an independent species in the late 1970s. It is rare with a highly restricted native range, which was only discovered in 1978, although intensive conservation efforts have increased the world population about thirtyfold in the first two decades of the 21st century. It inhabits a dry desert-like shrubby environment known as caatinga, and roosts and nests in cavities in sandstone cliffs. It mostly feeds on the nuts of the palm species Syagrus coronata, as well as raiding maize from local farmers. Its ecology also appears linked to cattle ranching.
Lear's macaw was named after the famous poet, Edward Lear, who was also an accomplished artist. In his teens in the early 1830s, Lear published a book of drawings and paintings of live parrots in zoos and collections, Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots. One of his paintings in his book strongly resembles this species, and although at the time he titled the work as 'hyacinth macaw' — a larger, darker species with a differently shaped patch of yellow skin adjacent to the base of the bill, which it closely resembles — not everyone agreed, and a quarter century later, in 1856, the illustration was given a species description by the French ornithologist and nephew of Emperor Napoleon, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who chose to commemorate the poet in the specific name. Most authorities, however, were unconvinced of the distinctness of the new taxon. The rarely seen bird was not considered a distinct species until 1978, when German-born, Brazilian-naturalised ornithologist Helmut Sick finally located the wild population.
Lear's macaw is 70–75 cm (27+1⁄2–29+1⁄2 in) long and weighs around 950 g (2 lb 2 oz).
The body, tail, and wings are dark metallic blue with a faint, often barely visible, tinge of green, and the head is a slightly paler shade. It has an area of pale-yellow skin adjacent to the base of its beak, and orange-yellow eye rings. It has a large, blackish beak and dark grey feet.
Lear's macaw is similar to the larger hyacinth macaw and the slightly smaller glaucous macaw. The hyacinth macaw can be distinguished by its darker plumage, lack of greenish tinge, and a differently shaped patch of yellow skin adjacent to the base of the bill. The glaucous macaw is paler and has a more greyish head.
The primary diet of Lear's macaw are the nuts (as many as 350 per day) of the palm Syagrus coronata, locally known as licuri, but the seeds of Melanoxylon, Jatropha mollissima, Dioclea, Spondias tuberosa, Schinopsis brasiliensis and Zea mays are also eaten, as well as the flowers of Agave.
The macaw usually forages in groups. They preferentially feed on the palms where they grow in groves, mixed together with taller trees. At least thirty confirmed feeding localities are known throughout the range. A tall tree is selected by the flock as base to carefully inspect the feeding area. First a pair descends to the level of the palms to assess the suitability, the pair then returns to base, and then the entire flock descends to decide if it is worth staying around. If it is, then the macaws generally feed directly at the site, tearing the fibrous pulp off the fruit to obtain the extremely hard and thick-shelled nut. The pulp is discarded. The heavy bills appear to have evolved specifically to crack open the palm nuts with a chisel-shaped edge, being precisely of the correct size and shape. Upon occasion the birds maw fly off to a better perch to consume the nut, sometimes even carrying a branchlet with a few fruit. Such perches are generally a branch of a tall tree or a cliff face, and the ground below such a perch will become littered with piles of cracked palm nut shells, and are thus easily spotted.