n Tuesday, 22 Apr 2025, a pair of Military Macaws (Ara militaris) was photographed at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park, Brewster Co, Texas. Pending review by the Texas Bird Records Committee (TBRC) and American Birding Association Checklist Committee (ABA-CLC), this could represent the first confirmed record of the species within the ABA Area.
Twenty-five years ago, Campbell (2010) compiled a list of the most likely new ABA Area birds. An honorable mention on this list was Military Macaw, due to its strong flying ability and a propensity to wander in search of fruit and nuts.
This sighting, however, is not the first record of the species for the ABA Area. On 23 Aug 1992, the remnants of Hurricane Lester moved northeast through Arizona after crossing Sonora. In the wake of the storm’s passage, birders found a group of seven Military Macaws in Santa Cruz Co, Arizona at the Patagonia–Sonoita Creek Preserve. It is difficult to ascertain if these individuals escaped from a damaged aviary or were displaced from their native range, located just 175 miles to the south.
macaws_Rorabaugh
Two members of a group of seven Military Macaws at Patagonia–Sonoita Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz Co, Arizona. 23 Aug 1992. Photo © Jim Rorabaugh.
Hurricane_Lester
The track of 1992’s Hurricane Lester. Image © NOAA.
Military Macaw is listed as endangered in Mexico and classified as globally vulnerable by the IUCN. Once ranging broadly across both the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of Mexico, its populations are now fragmented into just 35 small, isolated groups spread across 16 states.
Surveys estimate only 1,563–3,263 individuals remain in Mexico, and most populations number fewer than 100 birds. The macaws are highly sensitive to habitat loss and poaching, and their long-term viability is threatened by low population sizes and significant geographic isolation (Monterrubio–Rico 2021).
One of the northernmost clusters of Military Macaw populations is found in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Tamaulipas—roughly 210 mi. from Big Bend National Park in Texas. Included in this cluster is the La Gloria–Jaumave population, which at 473 individuals (Monterrubio-Rico 2021), is one of the most populous in eastern Mexico. Here, the macaws rely on forested montane ravines and cliffs for nesting. This region is part of a pine-oak woodland corridor that extends northwest along the Sierra Madre Oriental into Coahuila. While the habitat becomes increasingly fragmented and less suitable for Military Macaws farther north, larger patches of forest exist at higher elevations, including the Área Natural Protegida Maderas del Carmen, located just 20 miles from the Texas sighting. Military Macaws typically travel up to 15 miles daily to search for food, but when resources are scarce, they may undertake longer journeys exceeding 31 mi. one-way (Rivera-Ortíz 2023).
Military Macaws are well known to descend into pecan groves to feed, and the town of Jaumave in Tamaulipas is locally famous for this behavior.
Long-term drought across Mexico, ongoing since winter 2022–2023, has severely impacted Tamaulipas. Nearly 76 percent of Mexico was experiencing drought conditions in May 2024—the worst since 2011 (Thiem 2024). These extreme conditions, including historically low rainfall and unprecedented heat waves, have drastically reduced the availability of critical food sources and could potentially force birds to disperse.
The huge wheel-shaped fruit of Hura polyandra, a giant euphorb, are a favorite food of Military Macaws in West Mexican thornforest.
In general, captive and wild birds often differ noticeably in appearance, as confinement often leads to broken and worn flight feathers. Unlike typical recent escapees, however, the Military Macaws in Texas show limited wear to flight feathers. Conversely, heavy beak wear and rough, well-used feet suggest gnawing and perching on hard, rough, natural materials. In combination, these traits are not indicative of birds that have been in captivity for any substantial length of time in the recent past, but there is of course nothing that could prove or even suggest the birds were not captive for a short amount of time.
Military Macaws, especially of the Mexican subspecies (S. m. mexicana), are decreasingly seen in captivity. (Two other subspecies are found in South America.) In 2008, Mexico implemented a nationwide ban on the capture, trade, and commercial breeding of native parrots, including the endangered Military Macaw. The move, initially criticized by skeptics, has since led to a nearly 50% drop in illegal parrot trafficking. Annual poaching fell from an estimated 78,500 birds in 2007 to around 34,000–41,500 by 2021. Military Macaws saw a brief spike in seizures post-ban as birds were reported or voluntarily relinquished, but further seizures have since trended downward thanks to increased enforcement (Guzmán et al. 2022).
Seized birds are transferred to sanctuaries, such as Rancho Primavera, for rehabilitation or repatriation to the wild. These efforts, combined with public awareness campaigns and legal reforms, have significantly curbed the parrot trade in Mexico and given species such as the Military Macaw a chance to recover.
Military Macaws undergoing rehabilitation at Rancho Primavera in Jalisco.
If accepted by the TBRC and the ABA-CLC, the Big Bend sighting would mark the first confirmed record of Military Macaw in the ABA Area. The birds appear to show physical characteristics consistent with wild-living individuals, and the location of the sighting along the axis of the Sierra Madre Oriental, combined with ongoing drought conditions, could explain their appearance in Texas. However, the committees may decide that the possibility of the macaws in Texas being escapees is just too great to ignore.
Recommended citation: Ford-Hutchinson, Tom. 2025. Military Macaws in Texas’s Big Bend National Park. North American Birds. 76,1.
References
Campbell, Colin. 2010. An Analysis of ‘The Next New ABA Birds. Birding: 42,6: 34.
Cantú Guzmán, Juan Carlos; María Elena Sánchez Saldaña; Emer Garcías de la Puente; Jesús Manuel Pimentel Ontiveros. 2022. Parrot Illegal Trade Decreases in Mexico 2022.
Monterrubio-Rico, Tiberio C.; et al. 2021. Assessing spatial dispersion, abundance, and conservation perspectives of Military Macaw Ara militaris populations in Mexico. Bird Conservation International. 31,4: 534–552.
Rivera-Ortíz, Francisco A. 2023. Phylogeography of Ara militaris (Military Macaw): Implications for Conservation. Diversity. 15,10: 1035.
Thiem, Haley. 2024. Multi-year drought and heat waves across Mexico in 2024. Climate.gov.
On Tuesday, April 22, 2025, a pair of Military Macaws (Ara militaris) was photographed at Rio Grande Village in Big Bend National Park, Brewster Co, Texas. Pending review by the Texas Bird Records Committee (TBRC) and American Birding Association Checklist Committee (ABA-CLC), this could represent the first confirmed record of the species within the ABA Area.
Twenty-five years ago, Campbell (2010) compiled a list of the most likely new ABA Area birds. An honorable mention on this list was Military Macaw, due to its strong flying ability and a propensity to wander in search of fruit and nuts.
This sighting, however, is not the first record of the species for the ABA Area. On August 23, 1992, the remnants of Hurricane Lester moved northeast through Arizona after crossing Sonora. In the wake of the storm’s passage, birders found a group of seven Military Macaws in Santa Cruz Co, Arizona at the Patagonia–Sonoita Creek Preserve. It is difficult to ascertain if these individuals escaped from a damaged aviary or were displaced from their native range, located just 175 miles to the south.
macaws_Rorabaugh
Two members of a group of seven Military Macaws at Patagonia–Sonoita Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz Co, Arizona. 23 Aug 1992. Photo © Jim Rorabaugh.
Hurricane_Lester
The track of 1992’s Hurricane Lester. Image © NOAA.
Military Macaw is listed as endangered in Mexico and classified as globally vulnerable by the IUCN. Once ranging broadly across both the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of Mexico, its populations are now fragmented into just 35 small, isolated groups spread across 16 states.
Surveys estimate only 1,563–3,263 individuals remain in Mexico, and most populations number fewer than 100 birds. The macaws are highly sensitive to habitat loss and poaching, and their long-term viability is threatened by low population sizes and significant geographic isolation (Monterrubio–Rico 2021).
One of the northernmost clusters of Military Macaw populations is found in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Tamaulipas—roughly 210 mi. from Big Bend National Park in Texas. Included in this cluster is the La Gloria–Jaumave population, which at 473 individuals (Monterrubio-Rico 2021), is one of the most populous in eastern Mexico. Here, the macaws rely on forested montane ravines and cliffs for nesting. This region is part of a pine-oak woodland corridor that extends northwest along the Sierra Madre Oriental into Coahuila. While the habitat becomes increasingly fragmented and less suitable for Military Macaws farther north, larger patches of forest exist at higher elevations, including the Área Natural Protegida Maderas del Carmen, located just 20 miles from the Texas sighting. Military Macaws typically travel up to 15 miles daily to search for food, but when resources are scarce, they may undertake longer journeys exceeding 31 mi. one-way (Rivera-Ortíz 2023).
Military Macaws are well known to descend into pecan groves to feed, and the town of Jaumave in Tamaulipas is locally famous for this behavior.
Long-term drought across Mexico, ongoing since winter 2022–2023, has severely impacted Tamaulipas. Nearly 76 percent of Mexico was experiencing drought conditions in May 2024—the worst since 2011 (Thiem 2024). These extreme conditions, including historically low rainfall and unprecedented heat waves, have drastically reduced the availability of critical food sources and could potentially force birds to disperse.
The huge wheel-shaped fruit of Hura polyandra, a giant euphorb, are a favorite food of Military Macaws in West Mexican thornforest.
In general, captive and wild birds often differ noticeably in appearance, as confinement often leads to broken and worn flight feathers. Unlike typical recent escapees, however, the Military Macaws in Texas show limited wear to flight feathers. Conversely, heavy beak wear and rough, well-used feet suggest gnawing and perching on hard, rough, natural materials. In combination, these traits are not indicative of birds that have been in captivity for any substantial length of time in the recent past, but there is of course nothing that could prove or even suggest the birds were not captive for a short amount of time.
Military Macaws, especially of the Mexican subspecies (S. m. mexicana), are decreasingly seen in captivity. (Two other subspecies are found in South America.) In 2008, Mexico implemented a nationwide ban on the capture, trade, and commercial breeding of native parrots, including the endangered Military Macaw. The move, initially criticized by skeptics, has since led to a nearly 50% drop in illegal parrot trafficking. Annual poaching fell from an estimated 78,500 birds in 2007 to around 34,000–41,500 by 2021. Military Macaws saw a brief spike in seizures post-ban as birds were reported or voluntarily relinquished, but further seizures have since trended downward thanks to increased enforcement (Guzmán et al. 2022).
Seized birds are transferred to sanctuaries, such as Rancho Primavera, for rehabilitation or repatriation to the wild. These efforts, combined with public awareness campaigns and legal reforms, have significantly curbed the parrot trade in Mexico and given species such as the Military Macaw a chance to recover.
Military Macaws undergoing rehabilitation at Rancho Primavera in Jalisco.
If accepted by the TBRC and the ABA-CLC, the Big Bend sighting would mark the first confirmed record of Military Macaw in the ABA Area. The birds appear to show physical characteristics consistent with wild-living individuals, and the location of the sighting along the axis of the Sierra Madre Oriental, combined with ongoing drought conditions, could explain their appearance in Texas. However, the committees may decide that the possibility of the macaws in Texas being escapees is just too great to ignore.
Recommended citation: Ford-Hutchinson, Tom. 2025. Military Macaws in Texas’s Big Bend National Park. North American Birds. 76,1.
References
Campbell, Colin. 2010. An Analysis of ‘The Next New ABA Birds. Birding: 42,6: 34.
Cantú Guzmán, Juan Carlos; María Elena Sánchez Saldaña; Emer Garcías de la Puente; Jesús Manuel Pimentel Ontiveros. 2022. Parrot Illegal Trade Decreases in Mexico 2022.
Monterrubio-Rico, Tiberio C.; et al. 2021. Assessing spatial dispersion, abundance, and conservation perspectives of Military Macaw Ara militaris populations in Mexico. Bird Conservation International. 31,4: 534–552.
Rivera-Ortíz, Francisco A. 2023. Phylogeography of Ara militaris (Military Macaw): Implications for Conservation. Diversity. 15,10: 1035.
Thiem, Haley. 2024. Multi-year drought and heat waves across Mexico in 2024. Climate.gov.
Tom Ford-Hutchinson is a San Diego, California-based birder, scientist, and photographer. He completed a record breaking Big Year in nearby Orange County in 2013. He shares his photos and birding experiences on Instagram at @tfordphotography.
