Macaw'S



Fly-Dressing frequently makes use of 2 species of macaw: the scarlet "Ara macao"
and the blue-and-gold "Ara ararauna". Other species include the military "Ara militaris",
Buffon's "Ara ambigua", hyacinth "Andorhynchus hyacinthinus" and the catalina
(a hybird species between the scarlet and blue-and-gold).
The military and Buffon's are different shades of green, the miltary being dark and the
Buffon's bright green. They also contain yellow, orange, and red areas.
Below two feathers from the Military.

Hyacinth macaw is indigo blue on top, and black on the underside, while the
catalina contains a mixture of orange, red, yellow, and blue.
Occasionally, a pattern may call for powdered blue macaw, which comes from the
tail-coverts/rump of the the blue and red Macaw "Ara chloroptera".
Powdered Blue Macaw
Besides the tails which are used as horns and in married wings, then shoulder feathers
(wing coverts) are also valuable for whole-feather wings.
Examples include scarlet macaw wing coverts in Major Traherene's Nelly Bly,
and blue and gold macaw wing coverts in his Gitana.
Below is a pair for the wing in Shannon from the scarlet Macaw.

Scarlet macaw may be easily substituted by dyeing white turkey tails in a mixture of some
hot orange in a scarlet dye, but the other species are difficult to imitate because they are multi-colored.

The Macaws are all on CITES list, but have a check with pet-hospitals and ask there, many people
cut parts of the wings from their birds once a year,
and they almost everytime cut side tails when that's what the bird use for steering.

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