Macaw Compendium

Aratingidae / Aratinginae

Genus Cyanopsitta:

This genus only is represented by one bird - the Spix' Macaw. Though the general color of this macaw also is blue there are significant differences to the other Blue Macaws. Obvious is the beak which shows the shape of Ara ararauna. The bird may be a step between the genera Anodorhynchus and Ara

Cyanopsitta spixii -
Spix' Macaw


Photo with kind permission by Those Majestic Macaws

Taxonomy:

Psittaciformes / Aratingidae / Aratinginae / Cyanopsitta / C. spixii
No subspecies.

Names :

C. spixii                      IE: Spix's Macaw,
                               I   Little Blue Macaw
                               IG: Spix-Blauara,
                               I   Kleiner Blauer Ara
                               ID: Spix ara
                               IF: Ara de spix
                               IP: Guacamayo spix

Distribution:

Brazil, in the area between S-Piaui, W-Pernambuco and N-Bahia

Description:

Length: 56 cm
Plumage general dark cobalt-blue. Head, earspot washed with green. Naked lores to naked periopthalmic ring dark grey.
Bill black, not as typically hooked as in other macaws.
Legs dark grey
Iris light grey

Habitat:

Tropical mountain savannah lands with irregular rainfalls.

Nutrition:

See summary of article below.

Breeding:

Season may start in September. It is estimated that the young are fledging at the age of 4 month.

IUCN Red List Status (1994):

Brazil: Extinct ?

Add. Notes:

This really is the rarest Macaw in the world. Starting from only one bird which was left in the wild and very few captive kept specimens great efforts are taken esp. by the Loro Parque Foundation to keep this species alive and present in it's native environment.
Read about the ongoing story:

Tony Pittman, "Visiting the Spix's Macaw in the Wild"
- summary of articles published in the Magazine of the Parrot Society Vol. 29 1995

Mac Margolis, "Single, lonely parrot seeks companionship"
- (Int. Wildlife, Jan/Feb 1996)

Marcos Da-Ré, "Adventure in the skies of Bahia"
- (Journal Verde, Internet version, No. 3.1996) gives a summary of the 1996 state of research

Cyanopsitta, online newsletter of the Loro Parque Foundation
- continuing up to date reports about the efforts taken to keep this species alive.

Latest news: Sun Oct. 5th 1997: I received a note by Tony Pittman in which he reports the following: The released female disappeared in 1996, either caught by poachers or a raptor. She's never been accepted by the last wild living male who was attracted by a female Illiger's Macaw. This year a clutch of three eggs was detected in their hollow, two of them infertile. Up to now it's not clear if the fertile egg will release a hybrid or another Illiger's as result of an adultery.

[Contents] . [Sci-Index] . [Com-Index] . [Anodorhynchus] . [Ara] . [Cyanopsitta] . [Diopsittaca]

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