Military Macaw

Military macaws live in large flocks and can live about 50–60 years in the wild. They can often be heard long before they are seen. They are a very noisy bird making a variety of loud cracking and shrieking sounds, including a loud kraa-aak. Military macaw activity has been observed most frequently in the morning and the evening meaning they are most likely a crepuscular species.

Military macaws typically inhabit tropical deciduous and semi-deciduous forests. They are a canopy species because they require large canopy trees of deciduous and subdeciduous forests for feeding, breeding, and nesting behavior. They also use canopy trees for protection from predators and heat. They typically live at elevations of 600 to 2600 m, higher in the mountains than most macaws ever range. However, these macaws may seasonally fly down to lowlands, where they are likely in humid forests and thorny woodlands. They will nest in the tops of trees and more often in cliff-faces over 600 ft. (200 m) above the ground. The three subspecies of the military macaw are distinguished geographically. A. m. militaris are found in areas of Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. A. m. mexicana occupy areas in Mexico and A. m. boliviana live in Bolivia and Argentina. The military macaw has escaped or been deliberately released in to Florida, USA, but there is no evidence that the population is breeding and may only persist due to continuing releases or escapes.

Military macaws are estimated to only have a breeding population of 2000-7000 individuals and is continuing to decrease. According to the ICUN red list, military macaws are listed a vulnerable as they face threats from habitat loss due to crops, deforestation, mining, and roads, with already extremely fragmented populations. A 2013 paper found that the habitat for populations in tropical dry forests has been reduced by almost 32%. Military macaws are listed as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Appendix 1 to prevent the capture and trade of the species. Despite this, research shows that the trafficking of parrots form South America to North America is still common. Their narrow diet is also of concern. If the environment were to take a hit and they lost access to too many of their diet species, the species could be greatly affected. There is promise however in that they have a less narrow diet during certain times of the year showing that they may have the ability to adapt if they did lose their typical diet species. Another conservation concern may be genetic diversity. Military macaws actually have moderate genetic diversity despite their small population, which points to a large ancestral population. Though they have moderate genetic diversity, they are still risk of population bottlenecks due to habitat fragmentation and inbreeding.