I photographed this Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) near El Doncello, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2020. It lives in forest, especially várzea, as well as woodland and savanna in tropical Central and South America. It uses its powerful beak to crack nuts and to climb and hang from trees. Besides nuts, it eats seeds, fruit, bark and leaves. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, +0.3 EV. Like other colonization areas of the Amazon foothills, El Doncello has lost forest to clearing and indiscriminate logging, which the municipality links to extensive cattle ranching.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) belongs to the family Psittacidae (New World and African Parrots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2018), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List