Macaw Compendium

Ara militaris -
The Military Macaw


- photo courtesy of Distinctive Images, Sacramento, CA
Carol Lofton

Taxonomy:

Psittaciformes / Aratingidae / Aratinginae / Ara / A. militaris
Subspecies: A.m. militaris; A.m. boliviana; A.m. mexicana.

Names :

A.m. militaris         IE: Military Macaw,
                       I   Great green Macaw
                       IG: Kleiner Kolumbischer Soldatenara
                       ID: Soldaten Ara
                       IF: Ara militaire
                       IP: Guacamayo militar
A.m. boliviana         IE: Bolivian military Macaw
                       IG: Kleiner Bolivianischer Soldatenara
A.m. mexicana          IE: Mexican military Macaw
                       IG: Kleiner Mexikanischer Soldatenara

Distribution:

A.m. militaris: Peru, regions of Lambayeque and Cajamarca; NE-Ecuador to Guajira in Colombia and Zuilia in NW-Venezuela
A.m. boliviana: East of the Andes in SE-Bolivia and N-Salta in Argentina
A.m. mexicana: Central Mexico, regions SE-Sonora, SW-Chihuahua to Tehuantepec, S-Nuevo Leon and S-Tamaulipas.

Description:

Length: 70-80 cm; smallest is militaris, biggest mexicana
Plumage general olive-green. Forehead and lores red. Naked face pale rose colored, striped with black-green rows of tiny feathers, above the eye reddish stripes. Flightfeathers blue. Lower back blue. Tailfeathers maroon, turning blue to the tip. In boliviana the throat tends to show maroon colors.
Bill black
Legs dark grey
Iris pale yellow

Habitat:

Arid woodlands of the subtropical zone from 800m to 2.500m

Nutrition:

Seeds, nuts, berries and fruits produced in the treetops

Breeding:

Start of the season varies within the subspecies. Militaris goes to breed in January to March, mexicana in April to July and boliviana in November/December. Clutch can consist of up to three eggs, incubated for 26 - 28 days by the female only. The young fledge after three month.

IUCN Red List Status (1994):

Add. Notes:

Because of it's appearance the Military Macaw often is confused with the Buffon's Macaw. While Buffon's live in the tropical lowland rainforests up to 600m the Military Macaws uses a different ecological niche(see above). Also according to Hoppe (1983) there are some relationships to the Thick-billed Conure

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Created for the Macaw's homepage Feb. 1996
pfeffer@club.tu-clausthal.de