The story of the bird
The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is one of the largest and most vividly coloured parrots in the world. The body plumage is scarlet. The wings run scarlet at the shoulder, through yellow and green, to blue on the outermost feathers. The long tail is scarlet and blue, and the bare facial patch is pale cream. In flight, a pair crossing a gap in the rainforest canopy can be seen from several hundred metres. It is the tropical bird at its most saturated and characterful, the lead of our parrot and tropical bird collection.
The birds mate for life and stay paired through the year, feeding and roosting together, almost never solitary except in captivity. Their natural range runs from southern Mexico to Bolivia and into the Amazon basin. They were once common on Caribbean islands, where populations were lost through the 19th century, and the species has since been reintroduced in Florida and parts of the Caribbean.
The plate shows the bird side-on and perched, the full wing pattern visible from shoulder to tip, the long tail feathers fanned slightly below the perch. The warm cream ground holds the red and blue without the harsh contrast a white background would bring. As tropical bird wall art it carries a room on its own, and it pairs naturally with the Blue-and-Gold Macaw for a bold, high-colour statement over a sideboard or a stairwell. Browse the full parrot and tropical bird print collection for more.
Paper and finish
Unframed prints come on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm, a heavyweight cotton rag with a soft matte surface and true archival life. The surface holds fine lines and subtle colour gradients without glare, which matters for Audubon-tradition work where the cream ground needs to read as paper, not as a white field. The framed option is set in a classic moulding, glazed and ready to hang, in black, white or natural.
Sizes
Available as archival fine-art prints in 8x10, 16x20, and 24x30 inches, with framed and unframed options where available.
