Blue and Gold Macaws - 'Mo' and 'Isabo'

This is MO and ISABO. They are Blue and Gold Macaws and are about 10 and 7 years old, respectively. Isabo's owner didn't have time for her, so she came to us. Mo and Isabo are a delight to have in our programs.

Macaws come from the rain forests in Panama to Southern Peru and Bolivia. They are about 33 inches long, half of that length being the tail. The upper body is mostly blue and the under body is yellow-orange. The cheeks are creamy-white and mostly bare, a characteristic of most Macaws. The black lines through the cheeks are actually tiny feather tracts. The forehead is green, and the long pointed tail blue. The throat is black, and both sexes look alike. Their diet consists of a mix of seeds, nuts, bread, pasta, as well as cereals, fruit, veggies, cheese and chicken.

These birds associate in pairs, which then congregate in small flocks. They forage for food during the day, then fly to roost in trees to spend the night. Like other Macaws this bird can use its foot as a hand. It will hold a fruit or nut in one foot, perch with the other foot, and use its mandibles to eat the fruit or nut. Its call is a loud, raucous squawk.

In the wild, Macaws nest in holes in palm trees. Eggs are incubated by the female. Rearing the nestlings takes 80 to 90 days, with both parents feeding the young by regurgitation.

Our Macaws will speak, and in general, Macaws are said to be capable of remembering some 60 words and phrases. Like many parrots, they are very intelligent, and can easily become bored and destructive in captivity.

In addition to the destruction of their forest home, the greatest threat to the survival of these birds is the pet industry. Each year thousands of them are illegally removed from the wild to be sold. Sadly, few of these poached birds ever find responsible homes. Three out of four of them die in transport, as they are poorly taken care of.