This is such a beautiful bird, it always amazes me the stunning colors that birds can display! This macaw is actually a hybrid between two species which look similar at first glance, but are quite different with a good look. Both the Scarlet Macaw and the Greenwing Macaw are predominately red, but the Scarlet has red, yellow and blue with a touch of green on its wings, whereas the Greenwing has red, blue and green on its wings. Breeding them together results in a Ruby Macaw, which has some characteristics from both types of macaw and a touch of its own differences too. A single clutch of chicks from a hybrid mix can all turn out slightly differently, just as you would find if you bred two breeds of dogs or cats together. Hybrids are severely frowned upon in aviculture because both most acaws are endangered in the wild, and it is considered to be very irresponsible to create these bird blends when keeping the bloodlines pure is so important. When Steve and I went to Chris Biro's "Pirate's Parrot Show" at the Jackson County Fair, he educated the public about hybrids and why they are not a good thing in the bird world. Nevertheless, this bird is very beautiful, and now it has the chance to help teach people more about parrots and conservation.

If you would like to know about Chris Biro's wonderful parrot conservation organization, please visit Bird Recovery International

Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I hope to finish my current work project in the next couple of days and will be back to visiting everyone's pages again as usual! I've missed you all and all of your fabulous photography!