Scarlet Macaw

By ernieleo

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Shot at the Santa Barbara zoo on a field trip with my grandaughter and her kindergarten class.

Scarlet macaws are large colorful parrots that live in Central and South America.

Scarlet macaws prefer undisturbed rainforest. They eat fruits, nuts, flowers and nectar, and they often eat unripe fruit and nuts that other animals avoid. These macaws also eat clay from river banks. No one is sure why they do this, but the clay seems to be important to them. One hypothesis is that the clay helps the parrots to digest poisonous chemicals found in the unripe fruit they eat