Military Macaw is mostly green in colour with the head a slightly paler shade. It bears a red frontal patch, with a white bare facial area barred with narrow black lines.
The Military Macaw generally measures 70 – 80 centimetres in length. The military subspecies is the smallest and the mexicana subspecies is the largest.
MILITARY MACAW DIET
The Military Macaws diet consists of seeds, fruits, nuts, berries and other vegetation found on treetops in the rainforests. Their beaks are well adapted for eating various seeds and nuts as they have the ability to break open the hardest of shells with relative ease.
Military Macaws will leave their roosts in flocks around dawn and head to their feeding areas. They will also visit heaps of clay known as ‘macaw licks’. These clay licks are found along riverbanks or sometimes inside the Amazon rainforest. Macaws will flock to feed on these clay deposits, which appear to detoxify the poisons found in the seeds and vegetation of the rest of their diet.
The flight feathers are blue and the red tail bordered with blue. The large strong beak is grey-black and the iris is yellow.
