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The origin of this mysterious bird of South America was, until recently, a mystery since its discovery 100 years ago

Indigo Macaw
Anodorhynchus leari

, Bonaparte, 1856, also known as the Lear's Macaw, photographed in Fazenda Serra Branca, along Canudos Jeremoaba of road in the State of Bahia, Brazil (South America).

Image: Nick Athanas / Tropical Birding, July 12, 2011 (courtesy, for

GrrlScientist / Guardian use only ) [velociraptorize]. Canon PowerShot S95

Question:

The origin of this mysterious bird of South America was, until recently, a mystery since its discovery more 100 years. Some people thought that the bird was a hybrid of natural origin. Can you identify the family of this mysterious bird taxonomy and species and tell me a little of its natural history? Is it a natural hybrid birds?

AA>

response:

This is an adult indigo macaw

Anodorhynchus leari

, celebrations in the corn flew out of a farmer's field. (Fortunately, farmers now use firecrackers to frighten birds, not shotguns.) This bird was named after the poet, author and British artist, Edward Lear, because he published his photo an individual of this species in his book,

Illustrations of the family Psittacidae, or parrots . Many authorities at the time thought that the painting represents a hyacinth macaw

A. hyacinthinus

, which is larger, darker and more known. In fact, the indigo macaw was accepted as a valid species only in 1978, after the naturalist Helmut Sick is the wild population (read his fascinating account of his discovery in this free PDF).

Anodorhynchus
blue macaws are large parrots

A. glaucus

, which was the species of blue macaw, my sister, is probably extinct.
Indigo Macaw is a large blue parrot with a massive black bill, and a zone of pale yellow bare skin near the base of the lower jaw and the eyes of others around you has a yellow-orange ring closest to her dark eyes. Her feet and lower dark gray-black with soot.