The particular species and range of diet varies from species to species. Like all macaws and most parrots, seeds and fruit are the major part of the diet of the genus Ara. They do not undertake large scale migrations, but instead more local movements amongst a range of different habitats.Ĭhestnut-fronted macaws, mealy amazons, and dusky-headed parakeets at a clay lick in Ecuador Within their range, birds may travel widely seasonally in search of food. The blue-throated macaw generally inhabits forest "islands" in the savanna, and the red-fronted macaw prefers arid scrub and cactus woodland. The other species are slightly more narrow in their habitat choices, but the need for large trees is universal. The only requirement is sufficient large trees, which is where they obtain their food and breeding holes. The Ara macaws are generally fairly adaptable in their habitat requirements this reaches its extreme in the scarlet macaw, which as suggested in its widespread distribution, uses most habitat types from humid rainforest to open woodlands to savannah. The blue-and-yellow macaw was extirpated from Trinidad in the 1960s (but was later reintroduced), and several hypothetical species apparently became extinct in the islands of the Caribbean. The military macaw is distributed from northern Mexico to northern Argentina, but the distribution is discontinuous, with populations in Mexico, a large gap, then a population in the Venezuelan Coastal Range and a population along the Andes from western Venezuela to northern Argentina. The overall range of many species and the genus as a whole has declined in historical times due to human activities. On the other hand, the blue-throated macaw and the red-fronted macaw have tiny distributions in Bolivia. The most widespread species, the scarlet macaw, is (or was) distributed throughout large parts of Central America and the Amazon. Seven species are found in Bolivia, but no single locality in that (or any other) country surpasses four species. The centre of Ara distribution is the Amazon Basin and the Panama– Colombia border region each with as many as four species found together (marginally five where the military macaw approach the western Amazon). The Ara macaws have a Neotropical distribution from Mexico to Argentina. There is no sexual dimorphism in the plumage, and the plumage of the juveniles is similar to adults, although slightly duller in some species. Four species are predominantly green, two species are mostly blue and yellow, and three species (including the extinct Cuban macaw) are mostly red. The colours in the plumage of the Ara macaws are spectacular. In most species the bill is black, but the scarlet macaw and green-winged macaw have a predominantly horn coloured upper mandible and a black lower one. The skin patch bears minute feathers arranged in lines that form a pattern over the otherwise bare skin in all species of the genus except the scarlet macaw in which the skin is bare. They have a massive downward curved upper mandible and a patch of pale skin around the eye that extends to base of the beak. The wings of these macaws are long and narrow, which is typical for species of parrot which travel long distances in order to forage. The Ara macaws are large parrots ranging from 46–51 cm (18–20 in) in length and 285 to 287 g (10 oz) in weight in the chestnut-fronted macaw, to 90–95 cm (35.5–37.5 in) and 1,708 g (60.2 oz) in the green-winged macaw. Like the rest of the genus the wings of the blue-and-yellow macaw are long, as is the tail Orthopsittaca and Diopsittaca are monotypic and are morphologically and behaviourally different, whereas the three Primolius macaws are green and smaller. For many years the genus contained additional species but it was split to create three additional genera: Orthopsittaca, Primolius, and Diopsittaca. The word is an onomatopoeia based on the sound of their call. The genus name is from ará meaning "macaw" in the Tupi language of Brazil. The type species was designated as the scarlet macaw ( Ara macao) by Robert Ridgway in 1916. The genus Ara was erected by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. Many of its members are popular in the pet trade, and bird smuggling is a threat to several species. They all have a characteristic bare face patch around the eyes. The Ara macaws are large striking parrots with long tails, long narrow wings and vividly coloured plumage. The genus name Ara is derived from the Tupi word ará, an onomatopoeia of the sound a macaw makes. It gives its name to and is part of the Arini, or tribe of Neotropical parrots. The genus name was coined by French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. Ara is a Neotropical genus of macaws with eight extant species and at least two extinct species.
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