Chestnut-fronted Macaw (Ara severa)

Chestnut-fronted Macaw

Subspecies

Monotypic species

Genus

There are twelve macaws in the Ara genus. Macaws are very distinctive birds, and possibly the best known, with their distinctive screeching call, sharp hooked beak, colourful plumage, very long tails and naked area around the eyes and cheeks. They are seen in most zoos, bird collections and anywhere else exotic wildlife is likely to be found. The species or the genus Ara are social birds which in the wild iive in flocks of 40 to 50 individuals composed by family groups of two to four animals.
They form pairs, and this social structure is kept when big flocks of hundreds of individuals are constituted. The species of the Ara genus vary greatly in size and colour with all of them having a similar body shape. Ara macaws have long tail feathers and large, broad heads with beaks that are extensive and strong. The most noticeable taxonomic feature of these birds is the area of bare skin on either side of the face. These bare patches can be completely bare or be covered in rows of small facial feathers surrounding the eyes. These markings vary between each macaw species.

Physical charateristics

Chestnut-fronted Macaw is mostly green in colour with patches of red and blue on the wings. The head has a Chestnut brown patch just above the beak. The beak is black and the patches around the eyes are white with lines of small black feathers.

Listen to the sound of Chestnut-fronted Macaw

[audio:https://planetofbirds.com/MASTER/PSITTACIFORMES/Psittacidae/sounds/Chestnut-fronted Macaw.mp3]

Copyright remark: Most sounds derived from xeno-canto

wingspan min.:	20	cm	wingspan max.:	22	cm
size min.:	46	cm	size max.:	51	cm
incubation min.:	24	days	incubation max.:	26	days
fledging min.:	60	days	fledging max.:	26	days
broods:	0		eggs min.:	2
			eggs max.:	3

Range

Latin America : East Panama, North South America, Amazonia

Habitat

The species across its range occurs in a variety of wooded areas but tends to avoid large continuous tracts of terra firme forest. It inhabitats forest, (including secondary forests and semicleared reas), forest edge, varzea, swamp forest with dead trees, palm groves, gallery forests and more open savannah-like areas. Occurs as high as 1,500 m in places, but in Venezuela is generally found below 350 m.

Reproduction

Nest is preferably built in palm tree near water. Clutch size is usually 2-4 eggs. Incubation period is 23-26 days. Yuong will fledge after about 3 months .

Feeding habits

Their diet consists of seed, nuts, fruit, berries and buds and they will spend most of their day feeding in the treetops.

Video Chestnut-fronted Macaw

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94H4gqa5RJ0

Conservation

This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size has not been quantified, but it is not believed to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Chestnut-fronted Macaw habitat runs from eastern Panama in Central America south as far as Bolivia and Brazil. In Suriname common ara in the coastal plane of swampy areas. Ara severa has a disjunct distribution, one of the two populations occurring west of the Andes in eastern Panama, coastal Venezuela and Columbia through to Ecuador. East of the Andes it occurs in the Amazonian lowlands of Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and parts of Bolivia and Brazil. It extends through the tropical zone of Venezuela, through the Guianas to Amapa, Brazil.

Chestnut-fronted Macaw status Least Concern

Migration

Resident throughout range.

Distribution map

Chestnut-fronted Macaw distribution range map

Planet of Birds