The Story
I photographed this Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) near El Doncello, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2021. It uses its powerful beak to crack nutshells and to climb and hang in trees. Besides nuts, it eats seeds, fruit, other plant matter, bark and leaves. It nests almost only in dead palms, and most nests are in Mauritia flexuosa palms. In the wild it can live 30 to 35 years and reaches breeding age at three to six years. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/3000 sec, f/16, ISO 6400, −0.5 EV. El Doncello is the leading rubber-growing municipality in Colombia, with more than 200 hectares planted around Maguaré and Puerto Manrique.
©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