Red-shouldered macaw
The red-shouldered macaw is a small green South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. The species is named for the red coverts on its wings. It is the smallest macaw, being in length – similar in size to the Aratinga parakeets. It is native to the tropical lowlands, savannahs, and swamplands of Brazil, the Guianas, Bolivia, Venezuela, and far south-eastern Peru. There are three subspecies: The noble macaw, Hahn's macaw, and the long-winged macaw. The long-winged macaw is a poorly distinct third subspecies that has longer wings, but is otherwise similar to the noble macaw. The Hahn's subspecies is named for German zoologist Carl-Wilhelm Hahn, who in 1834 began compiling Ornithologischer Atlas oder naturgetreue Abbildung und Beschreibung der aussereuropäischen Vögel.
Red-shouldered macaws are frequently bred in captivity for the pet trade, where they are sometimes described as mini-macaws.
Though wild populations of red-shouldered macaws have declined locally due to habitat loss, they are listed as Least Concern by IUCN. They are listed on Appendix II of CITES, and trade is restricted.
Taxonomy
The red-shouldered macaw was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other parrots in the genus Psittacus and coined the binomial name Psittacus nobilis. The red-shouldered macaw is now the only species placed in the genus Diopsittaca, which was introduced in 1912 by the American ornithologist Robert Ridgway. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek dios, "noble" with psittakē, meaning "parrot". The specific epithet noblilis is Latin meaning "noble". There are two distinct subspecies, D. n. nobilis and D. n. cumanensis, and some with longer wings might represent a poorly differentiated subspecies, D. n. longipennis, which intergrades with D. n. cumanensis in central Goiás, Brazil. The species is sometimes subsumed into the genus Ara.Taxonomy proposed by BirdLife International splits the red-shouldered macaw into two species.
- Northern red-shouldered macaw
- Southern red-shouldered macaw
Description
The red-shouldered macaw, at long and, is the smallest of all the macaws. Like all macaws, it has a long narrow tail and a large head. It has bright green feathers on the body, with dark or slate blue feathers on the head just above the beak. The wings and tail have feathers that are bright green above and olive-green below. The leading edges of the wings, especially on the underside, are red. Their eyes are orange, and the skin around the eyes is white without feathers, just as in the larger macaws. This bare patch of facial skin is smaller in proportion to the head than the one seen in most larger macaws. The Hahn's macaw and noble macaw can be distinguished by the upper mandible, which is black in the Hahn's macaw and horn-colored in the noble macaw.Their natural vocalizations are more akin to screeches than they are to whistles.