Check out THIS scarlet macaw!!!

[macawlover]

I'm part of another bird forum, and we're trying to figure out what woud've caused the yellow and green to be lacking in this scarlet macaw:

Any ideas? Here's a picture of another one:

Beautiful, isn't he?

[mmr]

diet, illness, mutation, genetic flaw??

[PenelopeGem]

I wonder if it could be dietary, or liver, or kidney function related? I have seen a Scarlet that looked like this one before at an animal theme park in California. It was part of a bird show.

[kellywess]

Very pretty. Color just mutated probably, I would guess. I have seen Blue and Gold Mutations where there was barely any blue on the bird except for in the wing feathers.

[Irish]

I'm guessing mutation, too, although I have heard that very ill or old Scarlets will lose the yellow bands as a defense mechanism--it makes them less obvious.

Whatever, they're pretty, but I prefer them with the yellow bands :-).

[macawlover]

Thank you for the responses! It would be cool to meet this bird in person. I'll just stick with (and hope that it is) it being a color mutation.

[Many Feathers]

I've watched 4 different Scarlet Macaws entirely lose their yellow over the years. It usually happens if the bird is # 1 blind in an eye, # 2 disabled in some way, (especially with a broken wing,) # 3 has been sick for a long period of time, and # 4 occasionally if the macaw is really old. I believe by removing the bright yellow coloring, it is nature's way of making the bird less visible, and thus vulnerable to predators. I see it as nature's way of protecting the bird. It is not a mutation. I know of 2 other long time macaw owners, besides myself, who have also witnessed this phenomena. You will also note that the blue tips on the the yellow covert feathers turn to a dark iridescent green, almost black, and that sometimes the overall red coloring may change from bright lipstick red, to a slightly darker shade of red, as well. I've had 2 of them sold to me at different times in the past, as "Ruby" macaws, but were not. Both of those birds were blind in an eye, and both had a broken wing. Later I was sold a Scarlet hen that was blind in one eye whose extremely wide yellow band slowly turned to red with dark green tips over the years. I also watched a friend's Scarlet hen that had been chronically ill, off & on, over a period of years entirely lose her yellow. I hope I have clearly qualified my view of this particular coloration for you with these examples. I find this coloration, without the yellow, to be extremely beautiful.