Scarlet Macaws

Photographs by Marco Simoni

Ara macao (the scarlet macaw) is a large neotropical parrot with unmistakably brilliant colorful plumage. In nature they inhabit lowland rainforests from Mexico and Central America to the Amazon river basin in South America. A scarlet’s diet is mostly fruit, nuts, and seeds in the forest canopy and emergent layer.

All parrots face threats from poaching and wildlife trafficking, loss of habitat, and a changing climate. Northern Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao cyanoptera) now inhabit a fraction of their former natural range in Mexico and Central America with only scattered populations here and there. They are classified as a species of least concern by IUCN due to strong numbers in South America.

Counting Scarlet Macaws is tricky work. While they are covered in bright rainbow-colored feathers that should be easy to spot, they tend to move around a lot, live in dense rainforests, and forage high up in the forest canopy where they are hidden from the ground. Their numbers remain strong in most of their native range in South America. The global population of the species is estimated be between 50,000 and 500,000 individuals.

Long live scarlet macaws!

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