The Story
I photographed this Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) at Pozos La Chorrera, near Acacías, Meta, Colombia, in January 2020. It lives in humid evergreen forest from southeastern Mexico to Bolivia and Brazil. More than half of its length is its long, pointed tail. It eats fruit, nuts, seeds, flowers and nectar, and macaws often gather at clay licks. It spends nearly all its time high in the canopy and talks mostly in raucous honks. 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 1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400. It has disappeared from some areas because of habitat loss and capture for the parrot trade, though it is still fairly common in others.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) 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 2022), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List