Chestnut-fronted Macaw

Wild Chestnut-fronted Macaws
© Erick Houli [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

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Did You Know?

The Severe Macaw is one of a group known as "mini macaws."

Academic Research

Related publications: Ara severus

Species Profile

Genus: Ara | Species: severus

Size:

40-49cm (15.6-19 in)

Weight:

307-387g (10.7-13.5 oz)

Subspecies including nominate:

one

Colour Adult:

Both adults small green macaws with long tail, blue suffusion on crown, forehead, chin, and area around cheeks near bare face chestnut brown, bend of wing, wrist area, and lesser wing coverts red; underwings at flight feathers dark orange/red, tail red/brown tipped blue. Bill grey/black. Eye yellow.  Face bare with fine lines of black feathers.

Colour Juvenile:

As in adults but with shorter tail and grey eye.

Call:

Loud; calls include harsh screeches reminicent of braying donkey.  Calls when at rest resemble Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna).  High-pitched notes in flight.

Video Links:

More Information:

Avibase

Content Sources:

Wild Chestnut-fronted Macaws
© Erick Houli [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

The Severe Macaw is one of a group known as "mini macaws."

Academic Research

Related publications: Ara severus

Species Care

Captive Status:

Uncommon accept US; limited breeding but increasing.

Longevity:

30+ yrs

Housing:

Aviary or suspended enclosure minimum length 4m (13 ft), or 3m (9.8 ft) with access to larger flight for part of the year.

Diet:

Cooked beans, boiled corn, sunflower seed - dry, soaked or sprouted; fruit, especially apple, orange, banana; hand-rearing food with hard-boiled egg and carrot ground to crumbly consistency; fresh vegetables such as: carrot, celery, zucchini, peppers, peas in the pod, beans, corn; spray millet, complete kibble for macaws.

Enrichment:

Likes ropes to swing on, lots of bird-safe chewables (fir, other bird safe woods, vegetable tanned leather), bathing.

Nest Box Size:

12" x 12" x 24" (30.5cm x 30.5cm x 61cm) vertical box.

Clutch Size:

2 to 3

Incubation Time:

24-26 days

Fledging Age:

12 weeks

Hatch Weight:

Not recorded.

Peak Weight:

Not recorded.

Weaning Weight:

Not recorded.

Wild Chestnut-fronted Macaws
© Erick Houli [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

The Severe Macaw is one of a group known as "mini macaws."

Academic Research

Related publications: Ara severus

Species Wild Status

World Population:

Unknown, decreasing.

IUCN Red List Status:

Least Concern

CITES Listing:

Appendix II

Threat Summary:

Seems able to withstand, and even benefit from, selective logging and land clearing. Local declines reported (Cauca Valley, Colombia and W Ecuador).

Range:

E Panama, Pacific slope of Andes in W Colombia to S Ecuador, and east of Andes from Colombia, E Ecuador and E Peru to Santa Cruz, E Bolivia; north of Amazon river east to W and S Venezuela and Guianas, and south fo Amazon river east to Mato Grosso, south-central Brazil. Introduced to S Florida, US.

Habitat:

Up to 1500m (4920 ft). Found in partly cleared and secondary forest, forest edge and open country with trees, humid lowland forest, varzea, swamp forest, palm groves, gallery forest and savanna. Avoids continuous terra firme forest.

Wild Diet:

Diet includes seeds of Sclerolobium albiflorum, Sapium aereum, Cedrela odorata, Cupania cinerea, pulp of Hyeronima and Ficus, pulp and seeds of Inga laterifolia, Micropholus melinoneana, Euterpe precatoria, Citharexylum poeppigii and Gulielma, fruit of Hura crepitans, Feuillea, Cecropia and Cariniana, leaves of Cecropia miparia and Sterculia excelsa, flowers of Quararibea cordata, Virola surinamensis and Erythrina amazonica, bark of Ceiba pentandra.

Ecology and Behaviour:

Are quiet in the canopy and hard to spot; roost communally. Usually in pairs or small flocks otherwise.

Clutch and Egg Size:

2 to 3 eggs, 38.5 x 30.5mm (1.5 x 1.2 in)

Breeding Season:

March-May, Colombia. February-March, Panama. September-December, Surinam.

Wild Chestnut-fronted Macaws
© Erick Houli [CC BY-SA 2.0] via Flickr

Photos

View in Gallery

Did You Know?

The Severe Macaw is one of a group known as "mini macaws."

Academic Research

Related publications: Ara severus

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