Hyacinth Macaw Skull BC-029
$165.00

Order This / View Your Cart

Hyacinth macaws are striking birds with long, pointed tail feathers and a huge, hooked black beak. Their plumage is a dramatic and deep cobalt blue overall with the head a slightly lighter color than the body. There are small highly contrasting bright yellow featherless patches of skin along the sides of the lower beak and circling their dark eyes. Its upper beak seems impossibly large, deeply curved and sharply pointed. The oversized bill allows it to be one of the few creatures with the ability to crack the highly nutritious but notoriously hard Palm nuts that make up a large part of its diet. The beak is also used to remodel natural tree cavities in hollow trees or to excavate tunnels in cliff faces, both of which sites are used for nesting and rearing their young.

Their feet are also adapted to be highly manipulative and allow them more dexterity than most birds. They often perch on one leg while using the other leg and their beak to manipulate food and other objects with precision. Congregating in bonded pairs in small flocks of 2 to 15 individuals, pair members and their young associate closely during social activities and are the only birds seen to groom each other.