Hyacinth Macaw
Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus
Quick Facts
- Type
- Bird
- Size
- About 100 cm long, including the tail
- Weight
- 1.2–1.7 kg (2.6–3.7 lb)
- Habitat
- Palm swamps, woodlands and savanna
- Diet
- Herbivore — mainly palm nuts and seeds
- Active Time
- Diurnal, active by day
- Lifespan
- Up to 50 years
- It is the largest flying parrot in the world, about a metre long from beak to tail.
- Its beak can crack palm nuts that are too hard for almost any other animal to open.
- The bare yellow skin around its eyes and beak is not feathers but exposed skin.
- Hyacinth Macaws typically pair for life and raise only one or two chicks at a time.
About the Hyacinth Macaw
The Hyacinth Macaw is the largest flying parrot on Earth, reaching about a metre from beak to tail tip. It lives in the palm swamps, woodlands and savannas of central South America, especially Brazil's Pantanal. Its entire body is a deep cobalt blue, set off by bare yellow skin around the eyes and at the base of its massive black beak. That beak is one of the strongest of any bird and can crack open palm nuts that almost nothing else can open. Hyacinth Macaws mate for life, nest in tree hollows, and travel in noisy pairs or small family groups. Habitat loss and past trapping for the pet trade have made them vulnerable.
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