Ara macao
Drawn from open occurrence records inside Tortuguero, aggregated onto a 10 km grid.
Occurrence records measure where people looked and found something, which is not the same as where the animal is. This is a relative likelihood, not a probability.
Records exist for January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December. A quiet month can mean the animal was absent, or that nobody was looking.
A meter of parrot in primary colors, flying in committed pairs down the Pacific coast: the scarlet macaw is Costa Rica's most visible conservation comeback. Shot and trapped almost out of the country by the 1990s, protected populations around Carara and the Osa Peninsula have rebuilt into the thousands, and today the daily commute between mangrove roosts and beach almond trees is practically scheduled traffic. Macaws pair for what passes for life among birds that can live half a century, and the pair flies wingtip to wingtip, screeching conversationally, visible from a kilometer away. Their harsh voices are the price of the plumage; nobody has ever accused a macaw of subtlety.
Pairs and family groups within noisy flocks; nests in big tree cavities, which are the scarce resource limiting recovery. Roosts are communal and traditional.
Beach almond trees along the Tarcoles and Osa coasts in early morning. Red burns easily: expose for the bird, underexpose a third, and keep the sky out of the meter's opinion.
Never buy caged macaws or feathers, and give nest trees a wide berth in breeding season; a flushed pair can lose the cavity to competitors.