Great soldier macaw
| Great soldier macaw | ||||||||||
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Great Macaw (Ara ambiguus) |
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| Ara ambiguus | ||||||||||
| ( Bechstein , 1811) |
The Great Soldier Macaw or Bechstein's Macaw ( Ara ambiguus ) is a species of bird from the family of real parrots .
description
The great soldier macaw is 85 cm tall, its plumage is mainly olive-green. The forehead is red. The naked face is covered with fine pen lines that are red on the reins and black below the eyes. The wing feathers are blue and have large wing coverts with a blue edge. The tail feathers range from chestnut red to blue at the tip. The upper tail feathers are bluish. The beak is black with a gray tip. The feet are dark blue and the iris yellowish-gray. The two subspecies hardly differ. Ara ambiguus guayaquilensis is slightly smaller and the beak is narrower. The large soldier's macaw differs from the little soldier's macaw in addition to its size and its more yellowish plumage.
Systematics and distribution
There are two subspecies:
- Ara ambiguus ambiguus : from northeast Nicaragua to Choco in central Colombia
- Ara ambiguus guayaquilensis : from western Ecuador to southwest Colombia
habitat
The great soldier macaws can be found in the tropical rainforest of the lowlands, mostly below 600 m, occasionally at heights of up to 1500 m. They prefer the dense tropical rainforest and rarely visit areas with open vegetation.
Way of life
The diet consists of seeds, nuts, fruits and berries from the upper tree regions. 80% of the main food is the fruits of the forest almond ( Dipteryx oleifera ). Only the soldier macaw has enough torque with its powerful beak to crack the hard shell of this almond. Even the scarlet macaw , a close relative of the soldier's macaw , is unable to do this. They live together in small companies or families of a maximum of 5 to 6 individuals and are very true to their location. Only after the food reserves of an area have been used up do they move on. They often work with scouts flying ahead looking for food-rich areas. The breeding season begins in the southern parts of the range around December, a few weeks later in the northern areas. The clutch consists of up to 3 eggs. The young are fledged after about 100 days and are able to reproduce after 7 years.
Danger
Until recently, these macaws were relatively common on both sides of the Panama Canal , but have now disappeared due to human destruction of their environment. Specific reports on conservation programs for the Ara ambiguus in Panama and Ecuador can be found on the World Parrot Trust website. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies the species as Endangered (EN).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ara ambiguus at Avibase
- ^ A b Joseph M. Forshaw, Frank Knight: Parrots of the World. Princeton University Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-691-14285-2 , p. 180.
- ↑ a b Ara ambiguus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2011.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2011.
- ^ Project to restore habitat for the soldier macaw via tree sponsorships . Plantaciones Edelman. Retrieved December 29, 2012.
Web links
- Videos, photos and sound recordings on Ara ambiguus in the Internet Bird Collection
- Conservation breeding and reintroduction program for the Ara ambiguus
- Macaw protection project by Tropica Verde eV in the north of Costa Rica, cooperation with the Centro Cientifico Tropical as part of the bi-national macaw festival Costa Rica - Nicaragua