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Blue Throated Macaw - New!

Blue Throated Macaw
ara glaucogularis*

Length: 85cms/34 inches
Weight: 750+ grams
Life span: 60+ years
Incubation: 26 days
Age at weaning: 16 weeks
Age at maturity: 2 years
Natural habitat: El Beni, Bolivia**

The Blue Fronted Macaw, also known as the Caninde Macaw, are often mistaken for Blue and Gold Macaws.  Even though they are very different in appearance and smaller in size.   Their preferred habit is around Palm groves which they use for nesting and for food.   They also frequent savannah forests in swampy semi open areas, or along rivers and the sides of lakes.   They are often seen in pairs and sometimes in the company of Blue and Golds, and their call is similar to the Blue and Golds though a little quieter and more high pitched although, when alarmed, they will give loud raucous calls as do the other macaws.

The Blue Fronted Macaw is extremely endangered and is listed CITES Appendix 1.  This is mainly due to trapping for the wild bird trade where they command a high price.  Habitat destruction also plays a part in their decline and, being a smaller bird, they find it hard to compete with the larger macaws for nesting sites.

Their diet consists of seeds, fruits, nuts and possibly leaf buds.  Their favourite is the fruit of the Attalea Phalerata Palm, the locals also like this Palm as the leaves are a major source of thatch in the region.

They nest in hollows in, mainly dead, palm trees.  A normal clutch is 2-4 eggs.  Breeding season starts in October and runs through to March, they are monogamous birds and will mate for life.

The plumage of the Blue Fronted Macaw is mainly blue.  They have a blue throat, forehead, neck, tail and wings.  The feathers under their wings are yellow as is their breast.  Their bill is grey black.  The only difference in immature birds is that their iris's are brown instead of the yellow of mature birds.

Interesting fact:  Although the Blue Throated Macaw is extremely endangered in the wild they do breed quite readily in captivity.

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*The Blue Fronted Conure had an earlier latin name of Ara Caninde.

**El Beni is a small area Central North area of Bolivia