The Story
I photographed this Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) near El Doncello, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2021. It nests almost only in dead palms, and in cities such as Rondonópolis in Brazil a few pairs nest in dead palms planted along the roads. Its face is nearly bare, with a few black feathers forming stripes around the eyes, and its irises are pale yellow. The female usually lays two or three eggs, and the chicks fledge about 97 days after hatching. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/350 sec, f/16, ISO 3200. El Doncello became a municipality in 1967, and its Festival Departamental del Caucho celebrates the rubber its farmers grow.
©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.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2018), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List