Blue-and-Yellow Macaw

Blue-and-yellow macaws are large, 3-foot-long parrots that can weigh up to 3 pounds. They are mostly blue, with darker blue on the flight feathers and tail. Their foreheads are green-blue, and their underside is yellow. The yellow begins on the side of the neck and extends down the chest, belly, wings, and legs. Their undertail coverts are a dull turquoise. They have black feathers on their neck bordering their pale white facial skin that is marked with black streaks around the eyes. Immature individuals have dark or gray eyes that turn yellowish-white as they get older. Their legs are gray, and their bills are black. Males and females are impossible to tell apart visually. Their wingspans are over 3.5 feet long.

Blue-and-yellow macaws are found in South America throughout most of Brazil. They are also found in the countries bordering Brazil from the west to the north spanning Bolivia to French Guiana.

Like most macaws, blue-and-yellow macaws prefer swampy tropical and subtropical forest habitats. They also inhabit seasonally flooded forests, riparian areas, palm savannas, and are rarely found in higher altitudes. However, they are considered habitat generalists and are also found in many urban areas.

Blue-and-yellow macaws are herbivores with a preference for seeds, grains, nuts, fruits, leaves, and flowers. They especially value seeds with high lipid and protein content, but their diet changes seasonally with fluctuating food availability.

Macaws have a very powerful beak and tongue that helps them with their diet. Their beaks are large and powerful with a flexibility unattainable by most other animals. As humans, our upper mandible is fixed, meaning we can only move our lower jaw independently. In birds, the upper mandible is not fixed, adding an extra degree of flexibility. Parrots in particular have an astounding ability to move their upper and lower jaws independently. This allows them to do such things like peeling fruits and seeds in their mouths using only their beaks.

Blue-and-yellow macaws are highly social and are most likely to be spotted foraging in the early morning or afternoon in flocks of up to 25 individuals. Within the flock, individuals will usually pair up and fly and forage with a partner. During midday, they seek shade high up in trees in smaller flocks or pairs. At night, they roost in large family groups. The largest flocks form around riverbanks where macaws will congregate to eat clay, which aids their digestion. Blue-and-yellow macaws are not considered migratory, but they are nomadic. Their use of habitat depends on food availability, and they may travel up to 15 miles a day to find it.

Mating season for blue-and-yellow-macaws takes place from November to February in some areas and February to May in others. Macaws reach maturity at around 3 to 4 years of age and will form bonded pairs that stay together until one of them dies. During mating season, pairs will leave the flock to find a nesting site. They favor pre-existing cavities in tall trees such as dead Mauritia palms. Females will lay 2-3 eggs and incubate them for a little under a month. Females feed the chicks for the first week of their life, but the males start helping after the first week. Fledglings are ready to leave the nest at 3 months and become fully independent 3 weeks later.