Golden Macaw - a new macaw species!!!!!!

[gottahaveart2]

Bergers Baby Birds, in Street Maryland have 2 pair and all the paper work to have them...They are beautiful to see..........but MACAWS.....I think not.. I thought that they are endangered.........and are limited to special breeders.........They don't seem very friendly........but I do like to sit and watch them..

[Courtzrocks]

Yeah it looks like a small yellow hy with a pale beak i think. They are very pretty.

[Irish]

I've been hearing this on several sites all day. What I'd like to see is the report reclassifying them. If anyone has a link to it, could they please share? Thanks.

[TyLevy]

Originally Posted by texbird

Look at that birdy face, looks nothing like a Conure in my opinion

Striking beauty that little squirt :)

[Amie]

Originally Posted by huntress

Whatever, It has a Mac beak.

Definitely does!

[amesoto]

The Golden Cockatoo had a pair and I was really surpirsed at how large they are. Looking at the picture I can see a lot of macaw in their little faces.

[KimHonea]

Originally Posted by DarwinTheSun

It is not really a mistake. Scientists believe that the only real taxon is the species. All other taxonomic classifications are not "real groups" they are just easy ways to delimit species relationships. So, it always depends on where you want to draw the line in the sand, so to speak. Conures are what we call a "paraphyletic group" meaning they do not have one common ancestor, but several. Some are closely related to macaws, and some are more closely related to other parakeets. Anyway, I am a systematic nerd.

I'd love to know more about the difference between Parakeets and Parrots.

I have a Quaker, and I've seen them listed as both. My quaker is nothing like any Parakeet I've ever seen.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by KimHonea

I have a Quaker, and I've seen them listed as both. My quaker is nothing like any Parakeet I've ever seen.

According to the research a few friends of mine and I did last week to answer the same question, the quaker is DEFINITELY a parakeet. But, the term "parakeet" is just a descriptive term referring to one of the parrot sub families. Calling a budgie (or a quaker, or a conure) a parakeet is like telling someone you live in the United States when they ask you what city you live in. . .

From the Ebcyclopedia Britannica:
Parakeet - Any of 115 species in 30 genera (subfamily Psittacinae) of small, slender seed-eating parrots with a long, tapering tail. Parakeets are found worldwide in warm regions. They typically form large flocks. Most species lay four to eight eggs in a tree hole. The most popular caged parakeet is the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus), mistakenly called lovebird; about 8 in. (19 cm) long, it may be any colour but usually has cheek spots and close barring on the upper parts.

Apparently, the genus name Ara (your Scarlet's, B&G and GWs) and Anodorhynchus (Your Hyacinths)are not parakeets.

But, apparently, our smaller macaws are, in fact, considered parakeets and are more closely related to conures than B&Gs, even though they APPEAR more like a macaw.

According to my brother's exotics text book (he's in vet school), ornithologists refer to them in the following way:

Macaws are their own type of bird . . . everything is referred to as a parrot, parakeet, or macaw. For example, to an ornithologist, a White-bellied caique is actually a white-bellied parrot, and a sun conure is actually a sun parakeet. But a Scarlet Macaw is still a Scarlet Macaw.

And the terms "macaw" "parrot" and "parakeet" were the classifications the text gave. . . .they don't use Amazon, caique, conure, etc. They even had a picture of a "Vosmaeri parrot" instead of a Vosmaeri eclectus. And a "Black-headed parrot" instead of a Black-Headed Caique.

Don't know how reliable of a source this is, but this guy has his Masters in bird ecology and a PhD in zoology and says something similar to my brother's text. http://vtpb-www2.cvm.tamu.edu/bright...ird%20Talk.htm

Cockatoos are their own family. They're not "true parrots", which would be the Psittacidae family. Ummm. . .. don't ask me why Psittacidae means true parrots--I see nothing "false" about a cockatoo being a parrot. We got that from researching Toos for the first one we fostered because they are VERY much different from the other parrots we had.

And Lories and Lorikeets have something with their tongue--like a hummingbird--that allows them to drink nectar that no other parrot has. So, some scientists are trying to classify them differently, saying they were classified wrong the first time. That bit of information, however, is from wikipedia. So take it with a grain of salt.

[pendulumn]

Buschgardens, Tampa has a flock of them in their aviary...they are really neat birds. very curious. I can see how they would make great pets. Unfortunate circumstances.

[Amie]

Originally Posted by pendulumn

Buschgardens, Tampa has a flock of them in their aviary...they are really neat birds.

That must be something to see them all flying--they're so bright!