Cuban macaw

The Cuban macaw was a species of macaw once found on Cuba’s main island and the Isle of Youth. Measuring around 50 cm in length, it was smaller than most macaws alive today. Like other macaws, it had strikingly vivid plumage. There are no visible differences between males and females. Its head featured a gradient of orange to pale yellow toward the neck, with a dark reddish-brown back, orange-red underparts, blue-toned wings, and tail feathers that faded from deep red to blue at the tips.¹

Very little is known about the Cuban macaw’s life history, but it likely lived in small groups in wooded areas, much like other existing macaws.

It may have once been relatively common within its range. Indigenous people hunted it for food and raised chicks as pets, that would have required a fairly stable population. These birds were also shipped to Europe to be kept as pets. By the 19th century, increased hunting and habitat loss drove their numbers down, and the last confirmed sighting was of an individual shot in 1864.

The Cuban macaw is the only recently extinct macaw species known from preserved specimens. Fossils found on Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands suggest the existence of another now-extinct macaw species, but this one was likely unrelated. Several other macaws have appeared in historical accounts or artwork, but none have enough scientific evidence to confirm their existence. Of the eight living macaw species today, three are currently listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.