Which endangered blue Brazilian parrot is also called the indigo macaw?

Lear’s macaw is the endangered blue Brazilian parrot also called the indigo macaw.

Its scientific name is Anodorhynchus leari, and it is a large, almost completely blue macaw native to Brazil’s dry caatinga. The bird has a heavy black bill, a yellow patch of skin near the bill, and a pale blue head. It mainly feeds on the nuts of the licuri palm, Syagrus coronata, although it may also raid maize crops.

The species was described in 1856 and named for the British artist and poet Edward Lear, whose parrot illustrations helped inspire its recognition. For decades, scientists were uncertain whether it was distinct from similar blue macaws. Its wild population was not located until 1978, when ornithologist Helmut Sick found the birds in their restricted Brazilian range.

Lear’s macaw is often confused with the larger hyacinth macaw or the paler glaucous macaw. Conservation has helped its numbers recover substantially, but habitat loss, food shortages, and past trapping continue to threaten it.