Green-winged Macaw (Ara chloropterus)

[order] Psittaciformes | [family] Psittacidae | [latin] Ara chloropterus | [IT] Ara aliverdi | [UK] Green-winged Macaw | [FR] Ara chloroptere | [DE] Grunflugelara | [ES] Guacamayo Aliverde | [NL] Groenvleugelara | [SU]Warawrafru

Physical charateristics

The adult plumage of the Green Winged Macaw is mostly red. A slightly darker red than the Scarlet Macaw and, apart from the size difference, they are easy to tell apart as the Green Winged Macaw has green patches on their wings (hence their name), while the Scarlet Macaw has yellow patches. Their head, upper back and wing bends are red, then green runs along their back and over their wings, finally their flight feathers and lower back are blue. Their tail is red with the feathers tipped in blue. Their upper beak is blackish and their lower beak grey in colour. Their exposed skin is a light grey, their legs grey and their iris’s orange.

Range

Much of northern South America, ranging from Panama to Paraguay and east to the Guianas and Trinidad, and south to Argentina.

Habitat

Tropical forests, swamps and surrounding secondary vegetation.

Reproduction

Macaws pair monogamously for life. The female lays 2-4 eggs in a nest in a hollow tree mostly high in the canopy. Females lay between 1-3 eggs that hatch after 28 days of incubation. The young begin to leave the nest after about 100 days. Female stays on the nest while the male brings her food. After hatching (24-25 days) both parents care for the chicks, feeding them with a special liquid from their beaks. The chicks stay in the nest for about 14 weeks, but they will remain with their parents for up to 2 years. Sexual maturity is reached at about three years.

Feeding habits

Their diet consists of seed, nuts, fruit, berries and buds and they will spend most of their day feeding in the treetops. Along with other types of Macaws and other parrots the Green Wing Macaw frequents clay licks. Eating the clay is said to aid digestion and to remove the toxins from their bodies, enabling them to eat unpalatable fruit.

Video Green-winged Macaw

copyright: Pere Sugranyes

Conservation

This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 8,100,000 km2. The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as ‘frequent’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified; there is evidence of a population decline (del Hoyo et al. 1997), but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

Migration

Resident throughout range.

Distribution map