Great Green Macaw

Project Status: Active | mid-1990s - current

Collaborators/Funders

Ara Manzanillo, Pro-Forest Foundation, Fundación Ecológica Rescate Jambelí, HARI (Hagen Avicultural Research Institute), Natural Encounters Conservation Fund, Paradise Park, Macaw Landing Foundation, Tracy Aviary, Zoo de Doue, In Defense of Animals (IDA), Kilverstone Trust, Shared Earth Foundation, Lynn Chase Wildlife Foundation, Adelaide Zoo, In Defense of Animals, American Bird Conservancy (ABC), Barbara Delano Foundation, Kyle Brown Legacy Fund, Paultons Park, Woburn Safari Park, Macaw Recovery Network (past)

Macaws in danger of extinction

In its native Central America loss of habitat has reduced the Great Green Macaw’s (Ara ambiguus) population to as low as 500.

Progress and outcomes: Since the mid-1990s the World Parrot Trust has supported several in-country organisations to help save the species.

Projects include protecting the unique lowland Atlantic forest in Costa Rica, funding Fundación ProBosque for an honorary warden program to protect the macaws in Ecuador, and partnering with The Ara Project (as of 2019 Ara Manzanillo and Macaw Recovery Network, two separate entities) in Costa Rica, and Fundación Ecológica Rescate Jambelí in Ecuador to help increase Great Green Macaw populations through captive breeding, rescue, release, and reforestation efforts. Currently, at Ara Manzanillo, more Great Greens have been born from nestboxes than were initially released: 45 released and at least 60 hatched locally. For a number of years, the WPT has supported the Macaw Recovery Network in Costa Rica in their efforts to grow and protect macaw populations, spread awareness of ongoing threats and protect habitat.

Focus on future work: Efforts undertaken in the next few decades will likely decide the fate of this species. WPT will continue to support its partners and their work towards:

Aiding in the confiscation of Great Green Macaws from the wildlife trade
Rehabilitating confiscated birds
Supporting breeding-for-release programs
Releasing birds to the wild to supplement wild populations
Educating locals about the sustainable use of lands
Assisting with habitat restoration efforts

With your help, we can further ensure the protection of these birds.

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IUCN/CITES Status: Critically Endangered / Appendix I

Wild Population: 500 - 1000 mature individuals

Where found: A.a. ambiguus: Caribbean lowlands of E Honduras to NW Colombia.
A.a. guayaquilensis: W Ecuador, Esmeraldas; smaller numbers in the Cordillera de Chongon-Colonche, Guayas.

History: Once common throughout the entire Caribbean, Great Green Macaw populations have declined alarmingly in recent years due to poaching and deforestation, in particular the cutting of Mountain Almond trees. BirdLife International states that over the past 50 years global populations have been reduced by half. The current population in all of Ecuador is suspected to be 30-40 birds (E. Horstman in litt. 2012). Recent conservation efforts in Costa Rica have stabilized numbers with less than 300 birds and an estimated 25-35 breeding pairs remaining (PsittaScene Aug. 2011).

Threats:

Unsustainable exploitation for the wild bird trade
Subspecies guayaquilensis reportedly shot as a crop-pest
Conversion of forest to oil-palm and banana plantations, causing the loss of the large Mountain Almond
Increased impact of logging, agriculture, illegal coca plantations, gold mining and hunting
Illegal trapping for in-country trade, food and feathers

Ecology: This macaw prefers lowland humid forest and also strongly deciduous forest; in Costa Rica lowland primary forest. It is found at altitudes up to 600m (1968 ft) in Costa Rica and1000m (3280 ft) in Panama. It is found in pairs and groups of 3-4 birds, foraging on fruits, nuts, bulbs and flowers.