Red-headed_macaw

Red-headed macaw

Red-headed macaw

Species of bird

The red-headed macaw or Jamaican green-and-yellow macaw (Ara erythrocephala) may have been a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that lived in Jamaica, but its existence is hypothetical.

Quick Facts Conservation status, Scientific classification (disputed) ...

Description

Rothschild based it on a description which a Mr. Hill had sent to Philip Henry Gosse:

Head red; neck, shoulders, and underparts of a light and lively green; the greater wing coverts and quills, blue; and the tail scarlet and blue on the upper surface, with the under plumage, both of wings and tail, a mass of intense orange yellow. The specimen here described was procured in the mountains of Trelawny and St. Anne's by Mr. White, proprietor of the Oxford estate.[2]

Ara erythrocephala could have been found in the mountains of Trelawney and St. Anne's Parishes, Jamaica.[3] It was described to have been found in the mountains, and presumably in forest as well.[4]

Extinction

It is believed that the main reason for the macaw's extinction was overhunting.[5]

The macaw is extinct,[4] and it is conjectured to have been hunted to extinction in the early 19th century.[6] It was a close relative of the Cuban and Dominican macaws.[6] Its existence is considered dubious today.[7]

References

  1. [1]
    BirdLife International 2012. Ara erythrocephala. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded 2012.
  2. [2]
    Rothschild, Walter (1907): Extinct Birds (Online-Version)
  3. [3]
    "Ara erythrocephala". The Extinction Website. Archived from the original on 13 October 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  4. [4]
    "Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaw Ara erythrocephala". birdlife. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  5. [5]
    Wiley, James. The extinct macaws of the West Indies, with special reference to Cuban Macaw Ara tricolor (PDF). 2013 British Ornithologists’ Club. p. 137. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  6. [6]
    "Jamaican Green-and-yellow Macaws (Ara erythrocephala)". BeautyOfBirds. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  7. [7]
    Hume, J. P.; Walters, M. (2012). Extinct Birds. A & C Black. ISBN 978-1408157251.


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