Hyacinth Macaw

Tagged: animal, bird, cat

The world’s largest parrot, the hyacinth macaw is a spectacular vivid blue South American bird. It has suffered a massive decline in numbers over the last 40 years due mainly to illegal trapping for private collectors. Once relatively numerous across much of its range in Brazil, the hyacinth macaw is now rare in most of its former strongholds. The largest population occurs in the Brazilian part of the Pantanal region-a huge, grassy plain about the size of Iowa that straddles the southwestern Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, extending southeast into Bolivia and Paraguay. Dotted with palms and other trees and shrubs, the habitat is flooded during the rainy season, peaking in about February to become the biggest freshwater wetland in the world. Even here numbers of the great blue parrots have declined alarmingly in recent times. The two other, smaller, populations are in the Gerais region of central Brazil and in Amazonia. In contrast to most of the more familiar macaws of the genus Ara, such as the blue-and-yellow and scarlet macaws, which eat a wide range of plants, hyacinth macaws depend on a few species of palm trees for their staple diet of palm nuts. The massive black bill of the hyacinth macaw is an adaptation to its specialized diet. Accounting for about one-fifth of the entire weight of the bird and worked by powerful muscles, it is immensely strong and forms an impressive and efficient tool for crushing the large, hard nuts of palm trees.

As well as taking them straight from the trees, the birds also feed on the palm nuts where they have fallen on the ground. On ranchlands where cattle are raised they can take advantage of concentrations of palm nuts that remain undigested in cowpats. The cattle digest the soft, fleshy mesocarp surrounding each nut, thereby saving the birds the effort. Although birds in northeastern Brazil nest on remote cliff crevices, most hyacinth macaws need suitable nesting trees if they are to breed. In the Pantanal only a few of the trees grow big enough to have developed large hollows in which the birds can conceal their nests from predators. However, such big trees and big birds are so prominent that local people cannot fail to be aware of the nest sites. Sometimes, trappers return year after year to steal chicks, while other long-established nesting trees are felled or burned by landowners clearing the land for cattle; both scenarios spell disaster for the hyacinth macaws. Habitat in the Gerais region is being rapidly converted to mechanized agriculture, cattle ranches, and exotic tree plantations.

Illegal Trade

During the period between 1970 and 1980 huge numbers of young hyacinth macaws were taken from their nests and sold to dealers or middlemen, who then sold them on to private collectors in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other countries. Some illegal trade still exists. An equal but persistent demand for captive macaws within Brazil and the taking of birds for feather headdresses or food adds to the problem, despite Brazilian legislation protecting the species. Estimates suggest that up to 10,000 hyacinth macaws may have been taken from the wild in the 1980s alone. In 1987 the situation regarding international trade was judged but for a while this had the unfortunate effect of Stimulating even greater demand by unscrupulous dealers and collectors willing to pay $8,000 or more for each bird. Recent efforts to save the hyacinth macaw have included studies of its ecology, an investigation into trade in the bird, and the establishment of nest boxes. Most encouragingly, many ranch owners in the Pantanal and Gerais regions no longer allow trapping on their properties.

The hyacinth macaw is a slow breeder animal species, taking about fine months from egg laying to, fledging (the time when the young start to fly). The birds rarely succeed in rearing more than one of the usual two chicks.

HYACINTH MACAW DATA PANEL
Hyacinth macaw (hyacinthine macaw, blue macaw, black macaw)
Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

• Family:Psittacidae
• World population: 2,500-10,000 individual in Brazil; perhaps fewer than 100 in Bolivia; small numbers in Paraguay
• Distribution: Three main areas of interior Brazil: on the southern side of the Amazon in the northeast; the Gerais region of central Brazil; the seasonally flooded Pantanal region of the Upper Rio Paraguay basin, just extending into eastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay
• Habitat: Lightly wooded areas, especially where clumps of trees are mixed with open grassland or swamps
• Size: Length: 35-39 in (90-100 cm)
• Form: Bird of great size with huge, hooked black bill; long, narrow wings; long tail; cobalt-blue plumage, purple on wings and tail, blackish on underwings and undertail
• Diet: Mainly nuts of various palm trees; fruit, including figs; occasionally water snails; liquid from unripe palm fruits
• Breeding: Usually in dry season; 2 (rarely 1 or 3) eggs laid; incubation 3-4 weeks, fledging about 3.5 months
• Related endangered species: tear’s macaw (Anodorhynchus leari); glaucous macaw (A. glaucus); Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii); blue-throated macaw (Ara glaucogularis); military macaw (A. militaris); red-fronted macaw (A. rubrogenys)

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