Partners for life
Macaws pair for life, and are nearly always seen flying in twos.
Amazon rainforest
Scarlet macaw
Ara macao
A big, bright red parrot with yellow and blue wings, a long tail and a bare white face.
- Size
- About 85cm long, half of it tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Rainforest from Mexico to the Amazon
Flaps after you, squawking. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Scarlet macaw
Good to know
Six things about the scarlet macaw
A nutcracker
Its beak can crack nuts that you would need a hammer to open.
Clay for breakfast
Hundreds gather at riverbank cliffs to eat clay. It may give them salt that their food lacks.
A long life
A macaw can live for 50 years or more.
Left-footed
Most macaws hold their food in the left foot and stand on the right.
Heard for miles
Its harsh squawk carries a long way across the canopy.
The real thing
Photos of the scarlet macaw
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
Listen for loud squawks overhead and look for pairs flying high. The clay licks of Peru's Tambopata reserve draw hundreds at dawn.
How to help
Scarlet macaws have been lost from much of Central America. Release projects there are bringing them back, and are worth supporting.
Keep going