The blue-throated macaw (Ara glaucogularis), also known as the Caninde macaw or Wagler’s macaw is a macaw endemic to a small area of north-central Bolivia, known as Los Llanos de Moxos. In 2014 this species was designated by law as a natural patrimony of Bolivia.Until 2010, it was hunted by native people to make feathered “Moxeño” headdresses for “machetero” ritual dances.
Description: The blue-throated macaw is about 85 cm (33 in) long including the length of its tail feathers and has a wingspan of approximately three feet or 90 cm.It weighs about 900 g (32 oz) to 1,100 g (39 oz). There is little easily observable sexual dimorphism; however, males tend to be a little bigger than females with approximate masses of 750 g and 950 g respectively.Upperparts are turquoise-blue, slightly duller on crown and brighter on rump. Underparts largely bright yellow but the vent is pale blue.
It has a bare facial patch obscured by blue feather-lines merging into a blue lower cheek and throat, separated from its crown by a narrow yellow stripe and bare pink skin around base of the large, black bill.On the face there is a sparsely feathered patch of skin near the base of the large dark-colored bill that has 5 or 6 horizontal stripes of blue feathers which are unique for every blue-throated macaw and can be used to individually identify adults.
Distribution and habitat: The blue-throated macaw lives in the Llano de Moxos of the Beni Department of Bolivia, nesting in “Islas” (islands) of palm trees that dot the level plains. It is not a forest-dwelling bird. This species is one of the rarest in the world. There are two areas inhabited by two sub-populations of Ara glaucogularis: one is to the northwest of Trinidad (the capital city of Beni), and the other is to the south of Trinidad.This complex landscape consists of grasslands, marshes, forest islands, and corridors of forests along waterways.They occur most often between the elevations of 200 and 300 m.
Feeding: Blue-throated macaws do not eat seeds and nuts to the same extent as many other macaw species do. Instead, they primarily eat fruit from large palms. The palm species Attalea phalerata is the most predominant source, but they will also eat from Acrocomia aculeata and Mauritia flexuosa. The macaws eat the mesocarp from ripe and nearly ripe fruit and have also been observed drinking the liquid from very immature fruit.
Breeding: Blue-throated macaws usually breed once a year but if the eggs or nestlings are lost, they may produce a second clutch in the same breeding season. A clutch consists of one to three eggs and incubates for 26 days. Nestlings have a mass of approximately 18 g at hatching and fledge at 13 to 14 weeks. The young macaws are still fully dependent upon their parents for food after they fledge until they are capable of foraging by themselves. Even after this occurs, it has been observed that young blue-throated macaws will stay with their parents up to a year. During this time, the parents will skip an entire breeding season. Blue-throated macaws reach sexual maturity at about 5 years of age.
Nesting: Blue-throated macaws usually nest in cavities of palm trees, most often Attalea phalerata, although it will nest in other palm species as well. Dead palms are the preferred nest as they are hollowed out by large grubs after the tree has died. Nesting pairs of blue-throated macaws do not consistently stay at one nest for consecutive breeding seasons and will usually search for different nesting sites every year.In the wild the blue-throated macaw often compete for nesting-holes in trees with the blue-and-yellow macaw, green-winged macaw, scarlet macaw, woodpeckers, toco toucans, barn owls, bats, and bees.The number of suitable nest trees has been in decline due to the large amounts of deforestation in its natural habitat.
Conservation status: The blue-throated macaw has a very small population and is on the verge of extinction in the wild. It is listed on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered.It is also listed in Appendix I by CITES. Trapping is illegal as blue-throated macaws have been protected by the national legislation of Bolivia.
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