The green-winged macaw is a large parrot covered with mostly red plumage. The wing and tail feathers are blue and green, hence its name. This macaw has a white, naked face, striped with small red feathers. The beak is strongly hooked and the feet are zygodactylous.
The Green-winged macaw, known as the “Gentle Giant”, is second in size only to the Hyacinth Macaw.
The Green-winged macaw (Ara chloropterus), also known as the Red-and-green Macaw, is often mistaken for the Scarlet Macaw, another large macaw of the Ara genus, because of its predominant red feathering. The breast of the Green-winged macaw is bright red, but the lower feathers of the wing are green. Iridescent teal feathers are surrounded by red on the tail. In addition, the Green-winged macaw has characteristic red lines around the eyes formed by rows of tiny feathers on the otherwise bare white skin patch; this is one of the biggest differences from a scarlet macaw to the casual viewer. This is the most common of the large macaws in the wild, and the largest of the Ara genus, widespread in the forests of Northern South America. The beak is strongly hooked and the feet are zygodactylous (2 toes that point forward and 2 toes that point backward). The Green-winged macaw’s powerful beak is designed to crush or open even the hardest nuts and seeds.
The chest is bright red. The shoulders or upper wings are red, as is the upper back and head; the middle wing feathers are green, turning blue toward the tips. On the tail, iridescent teal feathers are surrounded by red. There are characteristic bright red lines around the eyes formed by rows of tiny isolated feathers on the otherwise bare white skin cheeks. Upper mandible (beak) is mostly ivory-white with cutting edge black, the lower mandible is also black. Their iris’ (eyes) are pale yellow and legs are grey.
