Glaucous Macaw

Türkisara ( Anodorhynchus glaucus )

The Türkisara ( Anodorhynchus glaucus ), also known as Sea Blue Macaw and Glaucus Macaw, is a now extinct type of Neuweltpapageien.

Description

The bird was about 68 cm long and had a greenish- blue plumage, which was more grayish - green and blue on the throat dark gray - brown on the bottom. The underside of the hand and arm swing, and the tail feathers were black. The Türkisara had a yellow eye-ring and a unbefiederter also yellow big bare Unterschnabelwulst. The iris was dark brown, gray-black beak and toes in dark gray.

A study conducted at the bellows material and fossil finds of Herculano Alvarenga study also compares the distribution areas with that of the Lear's Macaw, is partly due to the broad consensus the extent of both types to the conclusion that both types have only subspecies status. Due to the rule of priority, the following new designations would accrue Anodorhynchus glaucus glaucus as nominate and Anodorhynchus glaucus leari for the Lear's Macaw.

Dissemination

Formerly in the provinces of Corrientes and Misiones in northeast Argentina, in the province of Artigas in Uruguay NW, S- Paraguay and in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina in SW Brazil. The provenance of the type specimen described by Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot in 1816 (then Macrcercus glaucus ) are: ". South America between 27 ° and 30 ° south length .... on the banks of the Rio Parana and the Rio Uruguay"

Habitat

In the yatay with palm trees ( Butia Butia and yatay spp.) Passed gallery forests along the rivers.

Nutrition

The Türkisara was probably a food specialist. The seeds of the Yataypalmen ( Butia yatay ) were probably the main share in its food range.

Freisleben

Little was known about the free life style. The birds live in pairs and small family groups. They stayed mostly in the bluish-green shimmering tops of jelly palm ( Butia yatay ) on. The decline of the species is associated with the settlement of the region. Türkisaras lived in the passed with many Yataypalmen gallery forests of the rivers. This narrow strip of forest were cut down quite quickly by the first settlers and turned into farmland. With the destruction of the gallery forests disappeared in addition to the breeding grounds, the most important food crop in the Aras - the Yataypalme. The species is probably gone for good before 1920. However Decoteau mentioned (1982 ) Field observations are to be succeeded in 1960 in the north - eastern Argentina. According Decoteau are also small remainders in Uruguay live. This information has not been confirmed. The Swiss Animal scavengers and dealers Cortier saw in 1975 in an animal dealer in Bolivia in a group of hyacinth macaws three or four copies of the sea blue macaws. These parrots are originated in the border area of ​​Bolivia / Brazil have ( in: Robiller, 1990).

Keeping and Breeding

Some Türkisaras got to the end of the nineteenth century in European zoos. The specimen in the Berlin Zoo died in 1892; the bellows is still located in the Natural History Museum of Berlin. The Türkisara in the zoo of Paris in 1905 to be passed. The housed in the Buenos Aires Zoo Türkisara died in 1938 - it was probably the last example of its kind

Decoteau (1982 ) mentions a breeding success with this type at a European breeders ( no further details ).

Museum specimens

The Türkisara was the beginning of the occupation of land by the Europeans a very rare kind So it is not surprising that very few copies were in the natural history museums in the world. Preparations and bellows are in:

A copy is found in the following museums: the Museo Argentino de Ciencas Naturalas in Buenos Aires, in the Natural History Museum in Berlin, Louis Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology in Cambridge / USA, in the Muséum d' Histoire Naturelle in Geneva, in the Muséum national d ' Histoire naturelle in Paris, the World Museum in Liverpool, and the Natural History Museum in Vienna. The two specimens have the Natural History Museum in London, Naturalis in Leiden, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.