OUR SCARLET MACAW GOT A FACE LIFT

In celebration of the amazing Scarlet Macaws that surround our rainforest ecolodge, we have updated our logo and a new web site is on its way. And to help you celebrate our new look in person, we have extended Lapa Rios’ “Stay 5 nights, pay for only 4” promotion to include July and August.

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is is native to humid evergreen forests in the American tropics. It is about 81 centimeters (32 inches) long, of which more than half is the pointed, graduated tail typical of all macaws. The average weight is about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds). The plumage is mostly scarlet, but the rump and tail-coverts are light blue, the greater upperwing coverts are yellow, the upper sides of the flight feathers of the wings are dark blue as are the ends of the tail feathers, and the undersides of the wing and tail flight feathers are dark red with metallic gold iridescence. Some individuals may have green in the wings.

Scarlet Macaws make loud, low-pitched, throaty squawks, squeaks and screams designed to carry many miles to call for their groups. A typical sighting is of a single bird or a pair flying above the forest canopy, though in some areas flocks can be seen. The Scarlet Macaw can live up to 75 years in captivity, although, a more typical lifespan is 40 to 50 years. Scarlet Macaws eat mostly fruits and seeds, including large, hard seeds. They like nuts and fruits. They also feed on nectar and buds.

The Scarlet Macaw’s distribution used to include much of Costa Rica. However, by the 1960s Scarlet Macaws had been decreasing in numbers due to a combination of factors, particularly hunting, poaching, and the destruction of habitat through deforestation. Further, the spraying of pesticides by companies cultivating and selling bananas for export played a significant role in decreasing Scarlet Macaw populations. The combined factors stressed the population of Scarlet Macaws in Costa Rica, where they had previously occupied approximately 42,500 km of the country's total national territory of 51,100 km, leaving viable populations in the early 1990s isolated to only two regions on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica; the Carara Biological Reserve and the Osa Peninsula, where Lapa Rios is located. By 1993 surveys had shown Scarlet Macaws occupied only 20% (9,100 km) of their historic range in Costa Rica.

Photos and editing by Frances Figart