Scarlet macaw Facts for Kids
Ara macao · AH-ruh muh-KOW
A bright red parrot that can crack hard nuts with its beak.
- 🏃 speed: not yet checked
- ⚖️ 2 to 3.3 lb900 g to 1.5 kg1
- 📏 33 to 35 in84 to 89 cm1 long
- 🎂 lifespan: not yet checked
- 🍽️ plants
- Doing fine (Least Concern)
The scarlet macaw is a big parrot with red, yellow and blue feathers. It has a strong, curved beak. It lives high in the rainforest trees.
Scarlet macaws use their strong beaks to crack open nuts and seeds, and to climb through the branches. They fly in pairs or in flocks, calling to each other with loud squawks. Many macaws gather at muddy riverbanks to eat clay, which may help them with the seeds they eat.
A scarlet macaw has two toes pointing forward and two pointing back, so it can grip branches and hold food like a hand. Pairs nest in holes in tall trees and often stay together for life. In some places scarlet macaws have become rare, because forests were cleared and wild birds were taken as pets. People now protect nest trees and raise macaws to release back into the forest.
How big is a scarlet macaw?
Scarlet macaw in numbers
| Length | 33 to 35 in84 to 89 cm1bill tip to tail tip, species-level |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | no checked number yet |
| Weight | 2 to 3.3 lb900 g to 1.5 kg1 |
| Top speed | no checked number yet |
| How long it lives | no checked number yet |
| What it eats | fruit, seeds, nuts and flowers |
| Where it lives | the rainforests of Central and South America, from Mexico to Brazil |
| What kind | Birds |
| Is it in danger? | Doing fine (Least Concern)2 |
A number we couldn’t find on a page we trust says so, instead of guessing.
Wow!
- A macaw can hold its food in one foot, like a hand.
- Pairs of macaws often stay together for life.
- Macaws gather at clay riverbanks to eat clay.
Compare the scarlet macaw
Friends and neighbours
Three-toed sloth
Jaguar
Ruby-throated hummingbirdThree questions
Books about the scarlet macaw, free at the library
Ask a grown-up to tap the button: it shows where to borrow a book about the scarlet macaw for free.
Where these numbers come from
- US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed rule, Federal Register 6 July 2012, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, from the IUCN Red List, checked 30 October 2026.
- Wikidata, Scarlet macaw (Q243761), checked 30 October 2026.