Amazon Parrots Mexico Macaws are large parrots found in Central and South America. Their varied colors help them Cuba ATLANTIC OCEAN Cayman blend in with the green leaves, colorful fruits and shadows found in their forest habitat. Loud Islands squawking helps them communicate with other flock members. Macaws have large, powerful Venezuela beaks that easily crack seeds and nuts, which, along with fruit, make up the majority of their Panama diet. With two toes facing frontwards and two facing backwards, macaws can easily hang Colombia and climb on tree branches as well as grab and hold food items. Several macaw species are Ecuador endangered; the last wild Spix’s macaw was seen in 2000 and it is presumed extinct in the wild. Peru Bolivia PACIFIC Brazil Paraguay OCEAN Chile Uruguay Argentina Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Hale Marianne Photo: Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Blue-headed macaw Green-winged macaw Severe macaw Primolius couloni Ara chloroptera Ara severa Range: eastern Peru, western Range: northern South America, Range: northern South America Brazil and Bolivia including the Amazon Basin around the Amazon Basin Status: vulnerable Status: least concern Status: least concern Diet: seeds, leaves, fruit, berries, flower Diet: : seeds, fruits, berries and nuts, buds and nuts maize and grain in cultivated areas Habitat: subtropical and tropical lowland Habitat: broadleaf and pine woodlands Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: forests, montane forests and plantations Range: Cuba, the Bahamas and Cayman Range: Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay Islands All vinaceous Amazons have a loud Cuban Amazons are found in flocks but raucous call. This species is threatened Hale Marianne Photo: will split up into pairs during breeding Vinaceous Amazon by habitat loss and has become quite Cuban Amazon season. They nest in tree cavities and in Amazona vinacea rare throughout its range. While they Amazona leucocephala some locations will nest underground in natural limestone holes. These limestone Status: endangered are found in some protected reserves Status: near threatened and parks, these areas may not be able holes insulate chicks and adults from the to provide year-round needs for this frequent fires that occur. endangered species. BIRDS Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Andean tinamou Crested oropendola Green jay Blue-throated Nothoprocta pentlandii Psarocolius decumanus Cyanocorax yncas piping guan Diet: seeds, shoots, buds, small Diet: large insects, fruit, nectar Diet: various insects, worms, acorns, Aburria pipile cumanensis fruits, insect larvae and small vertebrates seeds and a variety of fruits Diet: palm fruit, flowers, figs and Habitat: montane scrub and Habitat: tropical lowland forest Habitat: tropical deciduous forests, snails grasslands from 5,000 to 13,000 edges and clearings grasslands and montane forests Habitat: northern and western feet Range: Amazon Basin and Range: Central America and regions of the Amazon rainforest Range: Argentina, Brazil and surrounding areas northwestern South America Range: northwestern South America Paraguay Status: least concern Status: least concern Status: least concern Status: least concern Crested oropendolas are found There are 13 recognized sub- Blue-throated piping guans spend Andean tinamous live in remote in small flocks. A dominant male species of green jays. The northern nearly all of their time in trees, areas which are not easily will mate with several females and southern populations live in rarely descending to the ground. accessible to humans. When in the flock. Courtship consists different habitats and are slightly Breeding begins in the rainy season threatened, they will hide under of an elaborate bowing display. different sizes, with the southern and three eggs are laid in a twig nest vegetation which protects them Females build a hanging nest, populations being a little larger. In from predators. Their nests are high up in the tree canopy. They built inside the dense canopy of the some populations, other members rainforest. The blue-throated piping shallow depressions lined with weave together palm leaves, of the flock will help a breeding pair straw and are found underneath bromeliad leaves and other types guan is hunted for food and is losing with nest construction and will even habitat as forests are chopped down low bushes. A clutch of 5-8 shiny, of vegetation to create their nests. feed the young birds. reddish-brown eggs is laid. for agricultural use. Brightly Colored Bills With their long beaks and bright colors, toucans are one of the most familiar and recognized animals of the South American tropical rainforest. They are found throughout the Amazon Basin, extending north into Mexico and south to Argentina. Their beautiful bills are actually very lightweight, have forward-facing serrations that resemble teeth and are used to grab fruit that other animals can’t reach. They will add to their diet by occasionally eating small mammals, lizards, frogs and eggs. Toucans are naturally curious birds and have been hunted for both food and their bright feathers. Protecting their habitat will be vital in preserving these charismatic birds. Keel-billed toucan Ramphastos sulfuratus Diet: fruit, insects, spiders, lizards and snakes Mexico Habitat: wet lowland forest, lower montane Cuba ATLANTIC OCEAN subtropical forests, fruit trees in open areas Cayman Range: Central America and northern South America Islands Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Status: least concern Venezuela Panama These colorful toucans have a large, lightweight bill made of keratin, the same material Colombia found in your fingernails. Eggs are laid in tree cavities; both males and females Ecuador incubate the eggs and feed the young birds fruit and insects. They forage for food in the middle and upper levels of the forest canopy and rarely come down to the ground. Peru Curl-crested araçari Bolivia PACIFIC Brazil Pteroglossus beauharnaesii Paraguay OCEAN Chile Diet: fruit Habitat: forests Uruguay Range: Peru and Brazil Argentina Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Status: least concern Curl-crested araçari are found in the lowland forests of Amazonia. The glossy, curled feathers on the top of their heads look and feel like plastic. They usually nest in tree hollows previously made by woodpeckers. Males and females will share incubation and chick feeding duties in the nest. BIRDS Wading Birds of the Amazon Ruddy duck Oxyura jamaicensis Status: least concern Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Diet: vegetation and aquatic invertebrates Habitat: temperate freshwater Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Photo: Marianne Hale Marianne Photo: Hale Marianne Photo: Ruddy ducks can sink below the water’s surface, allowing them to evade predators. When trying Roseate spoonbill Scarlet ibis White ibis to attract a mate, males will beat their bill against Platalea ajaja Eudocimus ruber Eudocimus albus their neck hard enough to create bubbles in the Diet: small fish, insects, shrimp, Diet: crustaceans and mollusks, Diet: crustaceans and mollusks, water. Males have purely white faces and a blue crustaceans and plants also fish, clams or insects fish, frogs, insects bill; females have a black stripe across their mostly Habitat: coastal areas with Habitat: wetlands, estuaries, Habitat: coastal wetlands, white face and a pale blue bill. salt or brackish water, such as mudflats, marshes, mangrove including mangrove swamps swamps and tidal ponds, inland swamps Range: northern South America Blue-winged marshes, rice fields or other Range: northern coasts of and coastal Central and North teal wetlands South America America Anas discors Range: large areas surrounding Status: least concern Status: least concern the Amazon Basin Status: not assessed The scarlet ibis gets its striking White ibis feed by slowly Whitlock Jeff Photo: Status: least concern color from the food that it eats. wading through shallow water, Diet: seeds and roots of aquatic plants, insects The roseate spoonbill’s Males display to attract females, probing with their long beaks. and crustaceans distinctive bill helps it search including preening, rocking, Their beaks are sensitive to Habitat: marshes, lakes, swamps; winters on salt for food. The bird swings its and head rubbing. While movement and can detect water and coastal mangroves head from side to side through the males defend the nesting prey through mud and water. These small ducks are long distance fliers! They the water with the bill open territory, the females build a During the breeding season, spend summers in North America and migrate about an inch. Vibration nest on a platform of sticks. their legs, face and beaks turn down to South America for the winter. Blue- detectors inside the spoon help Both parents help to raise from pale orange to bright pink. winged teals rarely upend like other ducks, in- to detect food. Like flamingos the young. Threats to scarlet Predators include cats and birds stead they feed mostly by dabbing on the surface and scarlet ibis, their pink ibis include hunting, egg and of prey; white ibis stay together and dipping their head in shallow waters. coloring is from their diet of feather collecting, habitat loss in large flocks for safety. crustaceans such as shrimp. and pollution at foraging sites..