Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao cyanoptera)
2018
La Palma, Costa Rica
24” h x 36” w
Oil paint and collage on canvas
$5,070 CAN (Shipping within Canada, packaging and frame included) International shipping extra.
At first light in La Palma, Costa Rica, the scarlet macaws announce their arrival with a loud, boisterous call. After roosting in the mangrove forests for the night, they fly in to congregate on the Indian beach almond trees (Terminalia catappa, Combretaceae) to feed. During mating season, the macaw like to nest in large holes in tall living or dead trees, where they raise their young together. A macaw can live up to forty years or longer, and when one member of a pair dies, the remaining bird will sometimes die a short time later.
Pressures from the pet trade have had an enormous impact on scarlet macaw numbers. It was once thought that there were more captive macaws in New York City, then in the wilds of Central America. However, since 2005, they have been protected and are expanding into healthy flocks along the entire length of the Pacific Coast.
