Ara ararauna

Rodríguez, Oscar, Castillo, Leandro, Smith, Paul & Castillo, Hugo del, 2019, Status and distribution of Paraguayan macaws (Aves: Psittacidae) with a new country record, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 59, pp. 1-10 : 4-5

Blue-and-yellow Macaw Ara ararauna Figs. 2 , 7

The first Paraguayan mention was by Sánchez- Labrador ( Castex, 1968) as Caninde, who described it as less often seen than A. chloropterus and an inhabitant of forests where they build their nests in the highest trees. Dobrizhoffer (1784) also mentioned it by the same name. Azara (1805) described it as his “No. 272 Guacamayo canindé”, noting that the species did not pass 24.5°S and was not to be found within“50 leagues of Asunción ” (277.8 km). It is worthy of note that the Paraguayan department Canindeyú derives its name from the local name for this species.

Since then, there have been very few published reports. Brabourne (1914) described the species as gathering in large numbers during March to feed on Yataity fruits at a point “c. 67 miles north of Villarrica” (approximating to modern day Yataity del Norte, San Pedro department), noting that a birdcatcher made a yearly visit to this point and had recently (at the time of writing) captured 50 individuals in a single trip. Bertoni (1922) already noted that the species was disappearing because of persecution and that the range was confined to the “north between Caaguasú and … the Cordillera de Maracayú”. These areas presumably correspond broadly to the localities listed in Bertoni (1939): Yhú, Caaguazú department (extending Azara’s distributional limit south by over 0.5 degrees), Mbaracayú, Canindeyú department and“Chaco” without providing details.Three Paraguayan localities in Ñeembucú department given by Zotta (1937) under the name of Ara caninde presumably refer to this species, these being Villa Franca, Desmochados, and Guzu-Cua (= Guazu Cua), though the source of this information is a mystery. Podtiaguin (1944) repeats previously published localities and adds Colonia San Lázaro, Concepción department, as well as mentioning a now lost specimen from Pedro Juan Caballero, Amambay department shot by S. Vogt on 05 October 1933 and a which was formerly deposited in the Museo de Historia Natural del Paraguay.

As late as Inskipp et al. (1988) the statement that there are“no confirmed records” in Paraguay appeared in print, and a lack of subsequent records led Hayes (1995) to consider the species“extirpated in Paraguay ”.However there continued to be occasional undocumented reports by locals from Canindeyú (Mbaracayú Forest Reserve), Concepción (Paso Bravo and Serranía San Luís National Parks), Amambay (Bosque Estrella, Acevedo et al., 1990) and Alto Paraguay (northwest of Bahía Negra) departments ( Mazar Barnett & Madroño-Nieto, 2003; Guyra Paraguay, 2004).

More recently the species has been documented photographically at Estancia Cerro Corá, 12 km S of Bahía Negra, Alto Paraguay department (Gustavo Arévalos, 26 July 2013) ; on the Aquidabán River on the road north to Bella Vista del Norte ( OR, 30 October 2010) ( Fig. 3 ) and at Estancia Laguna Ciervo ( OR, 26 April and 12 July 2017), both in Amambay department. It is suspected that some birds at the latter locality may roost in Brazilian territory and cross the border into Paraguay to feed .

We are unaware of any surviving Paraguayan specimens of this species.

Figures

Figure 2. Blue-and-yellow Macaw Ara ararauna Aquidabán River on the road north to BellaVista del Norte,30October 2010.(Photo O.Rodríguez).

Figure 3. Red-shouldered Macaw Diopsittaca nobilis Estancia Laguna Ciervo, Amambay department,01 May 2017.(Photo O.Rodríguez).