References

Books: From Egg to Animal by Molly Fleck
            Flap and Sing by May Nelson
            Animal Kingdom by Steve Parker and Martin Walters
Websites: http://globio.org
                http://birdtricks.com
                http://crittersonthings.com
                http://www.animals.nationalgeografic.com
                http://honoluluzoo.org
                http://www.ptybirds.com

Macaws

Macaws are brilliantly colored members of the parrot family. The macaw is a very rare bird in the world, but you can find them in the Caribbean, Central and South America especially in rain forests. In Panama you can find the scarlet macaw, the gold macaw, the great green macaw and the blue and yellow macaw. 

Macaws have the same physical characteristics, a slender body, long wings, a long tapered tail in addition to an oversized head and beak. Their large and powerful beaks help them while eating, they can easily crack nuts and seeds. Macaws also have gripping toes that they use to latch onto branches and to grab, hold, and examine items. Their dry tongues have a bone inside that makes them an effective tool for eating fruits. Macaws eat a variety of foods like fruits, palm fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves, flowers, and stems.

About macaws

Macaws are intelligent, social birds that often are in flocks of 10 to 30 individuals. Their loud screams are usually listened in the forests. They vocalize to communicate within the flock, mark territory, and identify one another. Some species can even mimic human speech.


http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/KOIEAHGHNX/30/a20.mp3

Flocks sleep in the trees at night, and in the morning they may fly long distances to feed on fruit, nuts, insects, and snails. Some species also eat damp soil, which may help to neutralize chemicals in their fruity diet and ease their stomaches. People do not know well how high macaws can fly but the average is 100m (328 feet).

The actual lifespan of a Large Macaw and Hybrid Macaw is between 35 - 60 years. The lifespan of the Mini Macaw is shorter, on average they will live 20 - 25 years. A 40 year old macaw will start showing the signs of aging and a 50 year old macaw is a very old bird!

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Macaws by groups

The natural Macaw species are commonly broken into two groups, the Large Macaws and the Mini Macaws. Mini Macaws are those that only reach up to about 20 inches (50 cm) in total length and large macaws are 28 inches (70 cm) in length. There are 8 living species (Including subspecies) of Mini Macaws and 9 living species (plus several subspecies) of Large Macaws. Large macaws are brilliantly colored while the smaller macaws tend to be green.

Extinction!!

There are 17 species of macaws, and many of them are in serious danger of extinction.  We must work or do something to help save them. Hyacinth subgroups: red-fronted, and blue-throated macaws, are seriously endangered.

 

The glaucus macaw and Spix's macaw may be already extinct in the wild.

Life cycle

I could not find a photo of the birds life cycle so I did my own life cycle with the information I found.

Everything that lives on earth has a unique life cycle, trees, jaguars, humans everything.

People think that every creature in the world has a unique life cycle but they are wrong.

Every bird has the same life cycle, and every fish has the same life cycle but, they are different one to each other (birds different to fish).

Here is the birds life cycle: