tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post5082008986493295222..comments2024-03-22T21:58:18.933+00:00Comments on ShukerNature: DOMINICA'S DEAD PARROT - A PERFECT PICTURE OF MYSTERY?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15628598508836601012noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-57936685829325418682017-04-21T20:02:32.415+01:002017-04-21T20:02:32.415+01:00nice postnice postlizahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06035184100892779826noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-80126800429336493102014-03-01T04:39:36.265+00:002014-03-01T04:39:36.265+00:00Ah, I see. Yes, that is a very intriguing photo, w...Ah, I see. Yes, that is a very intriguing photo, worth investigating further.Dr Karl Shukerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06222845702628862829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-37038057873466939602014-03-01T03:17:39.533+00:002014-03-01T03:17:39.533+00:00Sorry, I obviously wasn't clear there - "...Sorry, I obviously wasn't clear there - "that macaw" in the first line of my above comment refers to the Flickr photo linked in the comment above by City Parrots, I wasn't suggesting that the painting wasn't real.stevethehydrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18334234855643025449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-31242141332972277442014-02-28T20:58:17.162+00:002014-02-28T20:58:17.162+00:00The painting is certainly no Photoshop job - it...The painting is certainly no Photoshop job - it's one of the most famous works of art from the early 1600s, long before Photoshop came along...Dr Karl Shukerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06222845702628862829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-5521181199796268282014-02-28T20:35:20.499+00:002014-02-28T20:35:20.499+00:00If not a photoshop, that macaw is surely a hybrid ...If not a photoshop, that macaw is surely a hybrid - of which there are almost infinitely many combinations, as almost all the large macaws seem to hybridise in captivity producing fertile offspring, which can then be bred with each other... the closest I can find after trawling through many pages of Google image results is Red-fronted Macaw (Ara rubrogenys) x Blue-and-gold Macaw (Ara ararauna), which seems to be known to captive breeders as a "Maui Sunset" macaw, but the pictures I can find of that don't seem quite identical (the colours are generally less clearly separated and blur into each other more), but perhaps close enough for this to be one, especially as hybrids are very variable (or maybe it's a second-generation hybrid resulting from breeding the Blue-and-gold x Red-fronted hybrid back to a Blue-and-gold Macaw?)<br /><br />This of course raises the spectre of some of these hypothetical or poorly-known extinct "species" of macaws themselves being hybrids (as has been suggested for some similarly enigmatic Birds of Paradise) - especially as macaws were kept in captivity and traded between islands by pre-colonial Caribbean peoples.<br /><br />The red on the head/face of the bird in the painting looks rather odd to me - it sort of reminds me of the leather hoods used by falconers, which similarly make the head look smaller and almost as if it was bald of feathers (by squashing them down, I suppose). Could something similar have been used on parrots?stevethehydrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18334234855643025449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-71128785220360919182014-02-27T00:43:04.229+00:002014-02-27T00:43:04.229+00:00Amazing! Atwoodi macaw, once thought extinct, resu...Amazing! Atwoodi macaw, once thought extinct, resurfaces in Jurong Bird Park, Singapore: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8616486@N08/11880952835/in/photolist-j6SZmp-j6UnyB-kv5qok-j6VmFJ-kv5Smv-kv6D3q-kv4hyz-kv6gks-kv6geA-kv2Yax-kv2Gna-kuUttX-kuNjQP-kuPqaH-kuDzt2-kuJ6RZ-j6XeFj-j6UP7w-kuEQri-j6SM4i-kuxYon-kuwbrz-kuwaBD-kuweyM-kutg5F-kusss2-kuq4rX-kus96S-kuoKpf-kupxNC-kumsPz-kuo7e3-kuhDSz-kuhYDe-kuivJZ-kujy1w-kuggjc-kudeWB-kudxxk-hJLFNp-hJMTbF-kucT9A-ku8skL-ku5tn1-ku3fbK-ku1voz-ktZHqT-ktYHem-ktS1dM-ktT2vx-ktTF7fCity Parrotshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14455050391269245452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3739684561063978507.post-62883986205469151152014-02-23T20:51:27.342+00:002014-02-23T20:51:27.342+00:00Nice to see you discuss this particular mystery ma...Nice to see you discuss this particular mystery macaw. While this can never be a clear case, I do think it is likely that we're seeing *Ara atwoodi* in the painting. Before someone mentions it, I'd like to point out that this hypothetical macaw species is one of the few cases where the otherwise excellent 'Extinct Birds' by Hume slips up. Here it is said that the bird, being described as green-and-yellow and larger than 'the other parrot', must refer to still-extant *Amazona imperialis* as opposed to the also still extant *Amazona arausiaca*. This does not fit the description at all, since *A. imperialis* is green-and-purple...and magnificently so, making it very hard to believe anyone would describe it as green-and-yellow. It is also a highland specalist, which could well explain Atwood not mentioning it (unless he indeed, as you suggested, considered both Amazon parrots to be the same species). Evidently, the macaw wasn't a highland specialist itself or it probably would have lasted longer and not have been as easily encountered. I'd also like to point out that red faces need not be explained by the flushing of blood through the naked skin, though it might be. Several species of macaw, most notably *Ara rubrogenys*, sport patterns of small red feathers on the otherwise naked face patch. BrianLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17880867575515761505noreply@blogger.com