Entry on the Glaucous Macaw (Anodorhynchus glaucus) in the Lexicon of Parrots published by Arndt Verlag, Bretten, Germany. This comprehensive work with images of every species and subspecies of parrot can be ordered on-line at www.arndt-verlag.com

GLAUCOUS MACAW

Anodorhynchus  glaucus (Vieillot 1816)

German: Meerblauer Ara 

Description: general plumage greenish-blue; head and nape bluish-grey; throat and upper breast grey-brownish; bare area to base of bill pale yellowish; wings slightly brighter blue; underside of tail and wings blackish; powerful bill blackish; periophthalmic ring yellow; iris dark brown; feet dark grey.

Immatures undescribed.

Length: 72 cm (28.5 ins)

Distribution: northeast Argentina in provinces of Corrientes and Misiones; Artigas Province in northwest Uruguay and in Brazil states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

Habitat: open and partially open areas with yatay palms; forest along rivers; marshland with trees and palms.

Status: almost certainly extinct; main causes destruction of yatay palms as well as deforestation; as population not very great in recent historical times trapping for trade and hunting also contributed to extirpation.

CITES: classified CITES I on 07/01/1975

Habits: virtually unknown; usually seen in pairs, family groups or small bands; found often in yatay palms, whose bluish-green fronds provided excellent camouflage.

Natural diet: specialised feeder of palm fruits, especially those of  yatay palm (Butia yatay); in addition probably also ripe and unripe fruits, nuts, berries and vegetable matter.

Breeding behaviour: breeding season unknown; nested in living and dead trees and palms as well as crevices and hollows in cliffs along great rivers such as Rio Parana; no further information available; egg measurements unknown.

Aviculture: little information available; only very few known to have been kept in zoos; last believed specimen probably died in Buenos Aires Zoo in 1938.

Breeding in aviculture: unknown.