| Red-bellied macaw | |
|---|---|
 | |
| InGoiânia, Brazil | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Psittaciformes |
| Family: | Psittacidae |
| Tribe: | Arini |
| Genus: | Orthopsittaca Ridgway, 1912 |
| Species: | O. manilatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Orthopsittaca manilatus (Boddaert, 1783) | |
 | |
| Synonyms | |
Orthopsittaca manilata | |
Thered-bellied macaw (Orthopsittaca manilatus), also known asGuacamaya manilata, is a medium-sized, mostly greenparrot, a member of a group of largeNeotropical parrots known asmacaws. It is the largest of what are commonly called "mini-macaws". The belly has a large maroon patch which gives the species its name.
It is endemic to tropicalAmazonianSouth America (as well as theCaribbean island ofTrinidad), fromColombia south to AmazonianPeru andBolivia, and centralBrazil as far as the northwesterncerrado. Its habitat ismoriche (or buriti) palm (Mauritia flexuosa) swamp forests and sandy savannahs with palm groves. They are critically dependent on the Moriche palm for roosting, feeding and nesting. Although the bird is locally common, in places it has been adversely affected by clearing of the palms for use as posts, or to allow cattle ranching; also by capture for thepet trade.
Not to be confused with the Africanred-bellied parrot (Poicephalus rufiventris), a similarly named smaller parrot.
The red-bellied macaw was described by the French polymathGeorges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in hisHistoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected inCayenne,French Guiana.[2] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved byFrançois-Nicolas Martinet in thePlanches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision ofEdme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.[3] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalistPieter Boddaert coined thebinomial namePsittacus manilatus in his catalogue of thePlanches Enluminées.[4] The red-bellied macaw is now the only species placed in thegenusOrthopsittaca that was introduced by the American ornithologistRobert Ridgway in 1912.[5][6] The species ismonotypic.[6] The generic name combines theAncient Greekorthos meaning "straight" andpsittakē meaning "parrot". The specific epithet combines the Latinmanus meaning "hand" andlatus meaning "broad" or "wide".[7]
The red-bellied macaw is medium-sized, about 300 g (11 oz) in weight and about 46 cm (18 in) in length including its long pointed tail. The plumage is mostly green; thecere and much of the face are covered with bare mustard-yellow skin, and the irises are dark brown. The forehead is bluish. The chin, throat and upper chest are greyish with some green scalloping, and the lower abdomen ("belly") has a large maroon patch. The tail is long and tapered. The underwings and undertail are dull olive yellow. Adults have dark-grey beaks. The legs and feet are dark grey. In common with other parrots, they havezygodactyl feet, two toes pointing forward and two backward. Males and females have identical plumage, but males are usually larger and have larger heads. Juveniles are duller in colour than adults and have a grey beak with a conspicuous white mid-line stripe running along the length of theculmen (top of the upper beak).[8] TheSpix's macaw is the only other macaw in which juveniles have a similar white culmen.
The red-bellied macaw has an extremely large range throughout the Amazon Basin of theNorth Region, Brazil, except in the northwest quadrant centered on a large region of theRio Negro flowing from Colombia-Venezuela. It ranges through theGuianas including theGuiana Highlands into eastern Venezuela, the lowerOrinoco River Basin and across to the island of Trinidad.
Its southern limit in Brazil is the south-central and northwesterncerrado bordering theAmazon Basin.
Red-bellied macaws make reedy, high-pitched screams. They roost communally in the moriche palms, and large numbers can be seen at the roost sites at dawn and dusk; (seecrepuscular). They choose large stands of these palms that have an overabundance of woodpecker holes as roosting sites. They sleep communally in these groups of hollows. Depending on the size of the hollow, between five and 10 birds sleep together. As dusk approaches, they all pile into these dormitories and sleep shoulder to shoulder.
Red-bellied macaws nest in cavities of dead moriche palm trees. There are usually two to four white eggs in a clutch. The female incubates the eggs for about 27 days, and the chicksfledge from the nest about 77 days after hatching.[9] Juveniles reach sexual maturity in 2–3 years.
Their diet consists almost exclusively of the fruit and seeds of themoriche palm and theCaribbean royal palm (in Trinidad),[10] which are 100% carbohydrate, 0% fat[citation needed] and very high in beta-carotene.
Red-bellied macaws are listed as "least concern" by theIUCN. Population numbers have not been estimated, but wild populations seem to be declining.[1]
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It is extremely difficult keep these birds alive in captivity, because of their high strung personality, and low fat and high carbohydrate diet. Export/Import for the pet trade often results in 100% mortality. Captive-bred chicks have a low survival rate.
The only country to export these birds in recent years is Guyana.
Because of lack of commercial availability of moriche palm nuts, shelled unsalted peanuts have been used as a staple in the diet of captive birds. They should not be fed commercial bird seed, especially fatty seed like Sunflower.
The parrot breeder, Howard Voren, successfully devised feeding and housing methods which would keep wild-caught red-bellied macaws alive in captivity, after observing the parrots' wild behaviors in Guyana. However, he decided to keep his method a secret for many years, as he did not wish to be responsible for restarting the trade in wild-caught macaws from the area, which previous to this had significantly reduced due to the high mortality rates, and therefore lack of commercial viability of trade in the species.[11]
