Bird of the Week: Hyacinth Macaw

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This bird of the week is a big beautiful parrot that seems permanently amused but doesn’t want to be your pet, please.

Name:

Common: Hyacinth Macaw

Scientific: Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

Where It Is Found:

The Hyacinth Macaw occurs in South America. It is found in several areas of Brazil, and its population in the Pantanal also crosses into Bolivia and Paraguay.

It might be locally abundant in specific areas, but this bird is listed as “vulnerable” by the IUCN, “threatened” under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. What’s that all mean? For one, the population is declining – habitat destruction has been and remains a major problem for these birds. But also, the illegal take of adult birds for the pet trade causes an immediate and lasting conservation dilemma beyond its range countries. Illegal trade is an international challenge.

Relationships:

A true parrot, the Hyacinth Macaw is a member of the Order Psittaciformes in the Family Psittacidae. It’s one of only two extant species in its genus, Anodorhynchus. Most other macaws, like the well-known Scarlet Macaw, are in the same family but a different genus.

The “true parrots” seem to be those of the New World and Africa. But there are tons of parrots and allies. So many. I have not seen but a drop of the parrots in this bucket of birds. It’s almost embarrassing, but it’s a reminder to spend more time in South America…

Distinguishing Features:

Well, it’s a macaw. Probably due to popularity in the pet trade, the macaws are a pretty well-recognized group of colorful parrots. This macaw happens to be the largest macaw; actually, it’s the biggest of all parrots at about a meter long!

This species of macaw has a bright yellow eye ring contrasting with its eye-catching royal blue hue. And also a strong, thick black beak.

But the most insanely overall BLUENESS that really narrows down the potential pool of birds to a handful of, well, blue macaws.

The smaller Lear’s Macaw is similar, but it is not nearly so large, is slightly less deeply blue, and occurs in what is basically a pinpoint in eastern Brazil. Basically, if you’re looking at a blue macaw that is a Lear’s Macaw, you’re probably doing it because you intentionally went out seeking that bird. Whereas the hyacinth macaw you might encounter when you’re heading out to seek jaguar and instead a flock of macaws decides to land in the tree above you, laugh at you, and then drop nuts on your head.

Note: This hasn’t happened to me. Or anyone else, that I know of. I just seems like something they’d get up to. They just give the impression of being easily amused, don’t they?

Now, I know you might be thinking, “Everything I know about macaws I learned from animated films, and I’m pretty sure the bird in that movie was a blue macaw.” And that’s true – that macaw was also a blue macaw. But Blu, the avian character in “Rio”, was based on the Spix’s Macaw. That bird is generally thought to be extinct in the wild. At the very least, some still persist in captive breeding, so there might still be hope for this bird. After all, the Mauritius kestrel was recovered from a captive population of only four birds!

Likes:

Roomy cavities for nesting.

Nuts. Brazil nuts, macadamia nuts. Palm nuts, especially. They’re nuts for nuts. That beak ain’t just for grinning. It has a purpose, and that purpose is breaking open nuts of pretty much any variety.

A Note About Names:

Our bird of the week does not share the same coloring as the eponymous flower, making one wonder who gets to name these creatures and if, perhaps, sobriety standards might be lacking.

But no, I jest. Apparently the hyacinth flower that Apollo created in Greek myth was actually… not even the flower we call a hyacinth today!? It was probably an iris or a larkspur? So maybe that is why the bird-namer at the time gets a pass? Either of those flowers, probably the larkspur, would match the beautiful colors of this bird.

Either way, someone somewhere is getting something terribly wrong. That’s all I’m sayin’.