Blue Macaw Feathers
Bold blues, scarlet reds, and emerald greens paint the feathers of these intelligent, playful creatures. Their colors help them blend in with the forest and communicate with other macaws. In the wild, these birds breed once a year. The female lays two to four white, rounded eggs that she largely incubates.
Size
The blue macaw, also known as the Hyacinth Macaw, is one of the largest colored parrots. They are highly intelligent and can mimic human speech. They have a brilliant blue body of feathers with yellow circling around the eyes and bottom part of their beak.
They mate for life and are found in large flocks. They nest in pre-existing holes in trees with a clutch of two to three eggs.
Macaws are known to scream for attention and engage in destructive chewing. They communicate visually with ruffling of the head feathers and blushing. A new study has shown that birds can communicate subjective feelings with facial displays like these.
Blue and Yellow Macaws have four toes with two facing forward and two backward, a condition called zygodactyl feet. This helps them perch, climb and grasp objects with their powerful beaks. They use the left foot to hold objects and to support their bodies when eating or preening.
Color
Macaws are one of the most vividly colored birds, with bold blues and yellows and bright emerald greens. These large parrots have a 3 to 4-foot wingspan and a 1 to 2 foot-long tail. They also have a dark grey body and wings, a hooked beak, and zygodactyl feet (two toes that point forward and two toes that point backward).
The color of a macaw’s feathers is not produced by pigments but rather by structural colors, or schemochromes. Violet and blue colors are caused by changes in the structure of the feathers, which reflect certain wavelengths of light and absorb others. White feathers, such as those seen on hyacinth macaws, Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus, are produced by the same process.
Macaws are monogamous and bonded for life. They are also highly intelligent and playful, and can live in captivity for 60 years or more with proper care. This makes them a popular companion bird, though they can be noisy and destructive.
Weight
Blue and gold macaws are large birds with a wingspan of more than 16 inches. They fly in pairs and feed on the hard nuts of several palms, especially of the Mucuja (Acrocomia lasiospatha). Their beak is strong enough to crush these nuts. They also eat seeds and fruit. They build their nests high in trees.
These birds are well-known for squawking and other loud vocalizations, which are part of their natural behavior. In captivity, they may even destroy their cages and perches. However, this can be avoided by providing a wide variety of toys and plenty of space for exercise.
These birds have a lifespan of 30 to 35 years in the wild. They can live up to 50 years in captivity with proper care. They are monogamous and remain with the same mate throughout their lifetime. They breed about every 1 to 2 years. Their aviary should have ample sunlight to keep their feathers healthy.
Care
Providing your blue macaw with a variety of toys that can help keep it entertained is vital. These toys should be safe for the bird to chew and play with. You should also rotate them regularly to prevent the bird from becoming bored and destructive. These birds have powerful beaks and can destroy toys that aren’t sturdy enough.
These birds require a lot of mental stimulation and will need to be given puzzle toys and chewable objects inside their cage. You should also give them about two hours of supervised outside play time on a daily basis.
If your bird suffers from separation anxiety, try getting it used to being alone by leaving it with toys, mimicking your presence with recordings, and slowly increasing the amount of time you leave it. You can also use a vest that covers the bird’s chest and restricts its movement, which may help reduce feather picking and self-mutilation. If these methods don’t work, your vet can prescribe a sedative such as haloperidol to treat the bird.
