GREEN MACAW: CHARACTERISTICS, HABITAT AND FOOD - BIOLOGY - 2024

The green macaw (Ara militaris) is a species native to Mexico belonging to the Psittacidae family of the order Psittaciformes. It is a large bird that is characterized by its green feathers with blue and yellow markings on the wings, as well as by its scarlet headband on its forehead.

The name of the species A. militaris comes from the words aará, which means "macaw", and ara in turn means "strong" in Greek. On the other hand, militaris comes from Latin and means "military"; This name refers to the green color of the macaw, which resembles the military uniform, which is why it is also known as a military macaw.

Sources: pixabay.com

The macaw is a very noisy bird, being able to hear the song hundreds of meters away. It lives in groups of five to twelve individuals, which inhabit canyons, ravines, grasslands, tropical and subtropical humid forests, as well as in arid zones from Mexico to Argentina.

Based on the geographic range it occupies, three subspecies can be distinguished: A. militaris militaris, which is distributed among Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia; A. militaris bolivianus, which lives in Bolivia and Argentina; and finally A. militaris mexicanus, which lives only in Mexico.

The diet consists mainly of seeds, nuts and berries, although it also eats plant shoots, leaves, and flowers. Their eating habits contribute to the dispersal of seeds and the vegetal composition of the forests.

The male and female are a lifelong couple and the breeding season varies depending on the latitudes in which each subspecies is found. Usually the female lays 2 to 3 eggs and both parents take care of the young until they reach maturity at 4 years of age.

Currently the survival of the species is being threatened by illegal trafficking and habitat destruction. For this reason, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the green macaw as 'vulnerable', which means that it should not be traded and its conservation should be promoted.

characteristics

The adult reaches a size of 70 to 75 cm, with a wingspan (wings spread) of 100 cm wide and a weight of 1 kg on average. Bright green predominates in the feathers of the body, with a scarlet headband on the forehead. The neck, throat, chest, belly, thighs and side are olive green.

Part of the face is devoid of feathers and instead has 5 to 6 lines of small red feathers forming streaks. The iris of the eye ranges from yellow to light brownish-white. Both males and females are the same color.

The flight feathers are blue as is the tail, which is long and pointed with a red spot in the middle. Under the wings, it exhibits a yellowish coloration. The bill is large, hard and curved, dark grayish in color and with a fleshy leg. Its legs are dark gray and short, while its feet have two toes facing forward or two toes back (zygodactyls).

It is diurnal, which means that in the morning it is more active and during the early hours of the day it is in charge of looking for food. In the afternoon he sleeps in the resting places.

It is a very noisy bird that emits a wide variety of thunderous, hoarse and harsh sounds that can be heard from hundreds of meters away. The age of this species in the wild is over 50 years old.

Habitat and distribution

It is found in humid, subtropical, arid and thorny forests, between latitudes of 600 to 2,600 meters above sea level. They can fly in the lowlands, but they usually spend most of their time on the treetops and cliffs more than 200 meters above the ground.

The military macaw breeds in fragmented regions of America, from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, and its geographic range will depend on the subspecies; A. militaris militaris is found in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. On the other hand, A. militaris bolivianus inhabits Bolivia and Argentina, while A. militaris mexicanus is restricted only in Mexico.

Sources: Webbotwill

The differences between subspecies are due to minor variations in color and size, with the subspecies A. militaris mexicanus being the largest of the three.

Feeding

Its diet consists mainly of seeds, nuts and berries, although it also feeds on plant shoots, leaves and flowers found in the treetops. Its beak is capable of breaking hard nuts easily. In subtropical forests, choose fruits such as mango (Mangifera indica), lemon (Citrus limon), and pineapple or pineapple (Anana comosus).

Apparently, like other species, the green macaw tracks its food through the landscape, being able to be more or less sedentary depending on the availability of food resources in the environment. In some places, a daily movement of the bird of 20 km has been recorded between resting areas and feeding sites.

Sometimes the green macaw consumes clay found along the banks of rivers to detoxify harmful substances from some seeds and plants that are poisonous. Furthermore, clay is considered to provide you with dietary salt that is not available in the bird's ordinary diet.

Their eating habits contribute to the dispersal and plant composition of different subtropical environments.

Reproduction

Green macaws are monogamous, so they only have one sexual partner that they keep for life. The reproductive season varies considerably according to the region as a consequence of the temperature and rainfall that affect food availability, but it reproduces every two years.

The gestation period of the bird is approximately 26 days and it only lays between 2 to 3 eggs, which are incubated by the female. The chicks are born devoid of feathers and with their eyes closed.

Both the male and the female take care of the juveniles. In the course of two to four years, the macaw reaches sexual maturity. Their reproductive rate is slow and it is estimated that only 10-20% of the population reproduces per season.

Sexual behavior

During copulation, both macaws are placed together and groom each other, accompanied by up and down head movements. Then, they put the tail on the back of the other looking in the opposite direction and go back to preening again, a process that they repeat 3 more times, until one of the macaws places its wing on the other and emits a guttural sound. Later, they cross the tails and rub their sewers for a few moments.

The subspecies A. militaris militaris reproduces from January to March, while A. militaris mexicanus in the months of April and July. On the other hand, A. militaris bolivianus reproduces in the months of November and December.

Nesting

The species forms groups both in the reproductive and non-reproductive seasons, being faithful to the nesting and resting sites. The individuals of the reproductive pairs perch near the nests, maintaining vocal contact with the rest of the non-reproductive individuals, while they perch in the surroundings.

The subspecies A. militaris mexicanus usually nests in ravine crevices, on bare walls with a 90º slope at a height ranging from 50 meters to 455 meters. The entrance of the canyons has a diameter of 30 to 150 cm. These ravines are also used as roosts by non-breeding individuals during the breeding season.

Similarly, A. militaris bolivianus and A. militaris militaris tend to nest in trees and palms with a maximum height of 28 meters above the ground.

State of conservation

Currently, the population of the green macaw has decreased alarmingly. So much so that the population of mature individuals is estimated to be between 2,000 to 7,000 individuals.

The most likely causes of the species' disappearance are illegal trade and loss of habitat, mainly due to deforestation of nesting and meeting sites.

Sources: Ara_militaris_-Whipsnade_Zoo_-flying-8a.jpg: Alex Smithderivative work: Snowmanradio

This bird uses agricultural land, a reason that leads to being persecuted and treated as a pest in some agrarian systems. In Colombia and Mexico, local extinctions have been registered, while reports from Guatemala and Argentina indicate that the species is extinct in nature. In Venezuela it was declared in danger of extinction.

That is why the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified A. militaris as a 'vulnerable' species. Likewise, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), under Appendix I, protects the bird from being captured by illegal traffickers of wild animals.

References

1. Military Macaw. Taken from abcbirds.org
2. Military macaw Ara militaris. Taken from ebirds.org
3. Military macaw. Taken from worldlandtrust.org
4. Military macaw. Taken from Wikipedia.org
5. Military macaw. Taken from neotropical.birds.cornell.edu
6. Green Macaw (Ara militaris). Taken from animalsextincion.es
7. Green Macaw (Ara militaris). Taken from biodiversity.gov.mx
8. Ara militaris (Linnaeus, 1766). Taken from itis.gov
9. Green macaw. Red Book of the Venezuelan Fauna. Taken from threatened animals.provita.org
10. Arizmendi, M. C (2008) Conservation of the green macaw (Ara militaris) in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Biosphere Reserve, Mexico: an abundance and reproduction study in the La Cañada area. National Autonomous University of Mexico. Iztacala Faculty of Higher Studies. Final report SNIB-CONABIO project No. DT006. Mexico DF