Lear’s Macaw |
|
|
Also known as: Indigo Macaw
__large.jpg)
Wild Lear's Macaws, Canudos Station, Brazil
© Miguelrangeljr | Wikimedia Commons
Photos
View in GalleryDid You Know?
The Lear's Macaw is dependent on cliff-faces in gorges for nest sites.Programs & Projects
WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn moreAcademic Research
Related publications: Anodorhynchus leariSpecies Profile
Genus: Anodorhynchus | Species: leari
Size:
70-75cm (27.3-29.25 in)
Weight:
940-950g (33-33.25 oz)
Subspecies including nominate:
one
Colour Adult:
Both adults green wash on head and neck; upperparts purple/blue; body in general dark blue to purple/blue. Bill grey/black. Bare eye ring yellow, pale yellow teardrop shaped lappet at sides of lower beak, but not reaching beneath mandible. Eye dark brown.
Colour Juvenile:
As in adult but with shorter tail and paler skin surrounding beak and eyes.
Call:
Croaking and screeching sounds; weaker and higher pitched than Hyacinth Macaw.
Listen NowVideo Links:
Video 1 | Video 2 | Video 3More Information:
Content Sources:
CITES
BirdLife International
Cornell Lab of Ornithology/Birds of the World
A Guide to Parrots of the World, Juniper and Parr, 1998
Article "Breeding the Lear's Macaw at the Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation," by Simon Bruslund Jensen, Ryan Watson and Dr. Sven Hammer, Australian Birdkeeper, June-July, 2007.
Parrots: Status Survey and Conservation Plan 2000-2004, Snyder, McGowan, Gilardi and Grajal, 2000.
Parrots of the World, Forshaw and Cooper, 1989.
Parrots of the World, Forshaw, 2006.
Parrots in Aviculture, Low, 1992.
Wild Lear's Macaws, Canudos Station, Brazil
© Miguelrangeljr | Wikimedia Commons
Photos
View in GalleryDid You Know?
The Lear's Macaw is dependent on cliff-faces in gorges for nest sites.Programs & Projects
WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn moreAcademic Research
Related publications: Anodorhynchus leariSpecies Care
Captive Status:
Extremely rare
Longevity:
60 yrs
Housing:
A large enclosure 15m (50 ft) long in off breeding season - keeping permanently indoors not recommended.
Diet:
Soaked or sprouted seed, walnuts, peanuts, pecans, Brazil nuts and pine nuts; fresh corn, cooked maize; fruits such as banana, oranges; nutritionally complete pellet for macaws.
Enrichment:
Large aviary with tree trunk in middle decorated weekly with fresh branches of pine, fir or eucalyptus, large chewable toys made for macaws, the more complex the better, also provide overhead misters for bathing.
Nest Box Size:
Not recorded.
Clutch Size:
2 or 3
Incubation Time:
26-28 days.
Fledging Age:
Not recorded but probably about 13 weeks.
Hatch Weight:
19g (0.7 oz)
Peak Weight:
868g (30.4 oz)
Weaning Weight:
700g (24.5 oz)
Wild Lear's Macaws, Canudos Station, Brazil
© Miguelrangeljr | Wikimedia Commons
Photos
View in GalleryDid You Know?
The Lear's Macaw is dependent on cliff-faces in gorges for nest sites.Programs & Projects
WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn moreAcademic Research
Related publications: Anodorhynchus leariSpecies Wild Status
World Population:
About 1700 (2018)
IUCN Red List Status:
Endangered
CITES Listing:
Appendix I
Threat Summary:
A BirdLife 'restricted-range' species. The species may always have been rare, but human activity for possibly several hundred years have affected it adversely. Remains threatened by clearance and non-regeneration of licurí palm, and hunting for food was evidently also serious in the past. Trapping for trade, although illegal, is an ever-present danger.
Range:
Confined to the Raso da Catarina plateau, NE Bahia, Brazil.
Habitat:
Found in dry, rugged caatinga (thorn scrub) terrain. Mostly in areas with Syagrus coronata palms.
Wild Diet:
Staple food item is Syagrus palm nuts, also fruits of Jatropha pohliana, Spondias tuberosa, Dioclea and flowers of Agave and seeds of Melanoxylon. Liquid from unripe palm fruit is thought to be major source of moisture.
Ecology and Behaviour:
Gregarious and in flocks. Roost in communes in weathered crevices near top of sandstone ravines. Leaves in groups to fly, foraging before dawn and returning at dusk.
Clutch and Egg Size:
2 or 3 eggs, 57.0 x 38.5 mm (2.2 x 1.5 in).
Breeding Season:
October-January. Nest is in cliff tunnel.
Wild Lear's Macaws, Canudos Station, Brazil
© Miguelrangeljr | Wikimedia Commons
Photos
View in GalleryDid You Know?
The Lear's Macaw is dependent on cliff-faces in gorges for nest sites.Programs & Projects
WPT has worked with numerous partners to help save this species. Learn moreAcademic Research
Related publications: Anodorhynchus leariMembers Only Resources
Please log-in now to find more research, resources and tools.
Not a Member?
Find more great information:
Gain exclusive access to 600+ pages of additional research, seminars and podcasts, specialists to ask your toughest questions, and dozens of other fun resources - when you become a WPT member.
Join Today >>
Already a Member?
Encyclopedia
