The Story
I photographed this Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna) near El Doncello, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2021. Also called the Blue-and-gold Macaw, it is a large parrot with a mostly blue back, yellow to orange underparts and green on top of its head. It lives in forest, especially várzea and open terra firme, as well as woodland and savanna of tropical Central and South America and Trinidad. Birds reach 81 to 91 centimeters long and weigh 1.0 to 1.5 kilograms. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/1500 sec, f/6.7, ISO 3200, −0.5 EV. El Doncello sits in the foothills of the Eastern Andes northeast of Florencia, and the town founded there in 1951 took its name from a local tree called el doncello.
©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