Great Green Macaw
Species Name: Ara ambiguus (Bechstein, 1811)
Family: PSITTACIDAE
Synonym: Ara ambigua (invalid)
Identification
85-90 cm. Very large, green macaw. Red frontal band above huge black bill. Bare facial area with black lines. Flight feathers blue above and olive below. Blue lower back. Orange tail. Facial lines more reddish in older (especially female) birds.
Voice
Loud squawks and growls, and a creaking aaa call.
Ecology
It inhabits humid lowland, foothill and (in Ecuador) deciduous forest, but occurs in edge habitats and crosses open areas. It is found mainly below 600 m, but occurs to 1,000 m and occasionally 1,500 m in Dari??n. In Costa Rica, local movements may reflect the asynchronous fruiting of Dipteryx panamensis, the principal nesting and feeding tree. In Ecuador, it breeds in June-November, and nests in cavities of dead Cavanillesia plantanifolia trees. Orchids made up 71% of the diet of a pair watched in Ecuador, and their feeding range was estimated at 2,000 ha.
Threats
In Central America, there is conversion to banana plantations and cattle-ranching, and logging. D. panamensis is selectively logged in Costa Rica9. Annual deforestation rates are very high throughout its range, and deforestation in Panama probably exceeds 30% of its original range. Urbanisation and agriculture have largely extirpated race guayaquilensis, and it is reportedly shot as a crop-pest. There is illegal capture for (mostly internal) trade, food and feathers.
Range & population
Ara ambiguus occurs as two subspecies. The nominate race occurs from Honduras to north-west Colombia, and the race guayaquilensis in western Ecuador. In Panama, it is locally fairly common (near Cana, Alturas de Nique) on the Caribbean slope and fairly common in Dari??n (and adjacent Colombia), and occurs in Serran??a de Maj?? and south Cerro Hoya. In Colombia, it is also found in the north of the Serran??a de Baud?? and the West Andes, east to the upper Sin?? valley. In Honduras, it is uncommon near the r??o Pl??tano and, in Nicaragua, it persists in the Bosawas Reserve and around the r??os Indio-Ma??z and San Juan. The Ecuador population has been estimated at 60-90 individuals, but this may be an overestimate. The largest population in Costa Rica is only 25-35 pairs. There are up to 100 birds in Esmeraldas, and very small numbers in the Cordillera de Chong??n-Colonche, Guayas, Ecuador. Recent estimates suggest that the global population is less than 2,500 mature individuals (or less than 3,700 in total including juveniles and immatures), with the largest Dari??n subpopulation at less than 1,700 mature individuals (or less than 2,500 in total). The species forms non-breeding flocks of 50 or more, with flock attendants coming together from huge areas, possibly leading to inflated local estimates of abundance, and within Dari??n its distribution is quite local, it being absent from several remote areas. |
