Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

Rodríguez, Oscar, Castillo, Leandro, Smith, Paul & Castillo, Hugo del, 2019, Status and distribution of Paraguayan macaws (Aves: Psittacidae) with a new country record, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 59, pp. 1-10 : 2-3

Hyacinth Macaw Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus Figs. 1 , 4

Ridgely (1981) stated that local hunters in the Rio Apa area were familiar with the species and that it “crosses over at times from adjacent Mato Grosso”. Munn et al. (1987), apparently speculatively, estimated that the population in Paraguay consisted of just a single pair, and López (1989) hinted at new records of the species in Concepción department. However, the first published locality was not until Hayes et al. (1990) who reported the species from Puerto María, Alto Paraguay department on 11 August 1988.

López (1992) later summarised the results of her work on psittacids in Concepción department, observing the species at eight different estancias during fieldwork from September 1988 to October 1989: Estancia Buena Vista, Estancia Centurión, Estancia Loma Pora, Estancia Primavera,Estancia San Luís de la Sierra,Estancia Mirabeaud, Estancia Santa Sofía, Retiro Satí (the last three of these now within Paso Bravo National Park), as well as what is apparently the earliest observation of the species in Paraguay at“one km from Vallemí”, Concepción department on 07 March 1984.The report of the species as rare in “Serranía San Luís National Park” ( Robbins et al., 1999) refers to the area now known as Estancia Garay Kue. López (1992) doubted the veracity of a sight record south of Cerro Corá National Park, Amambay department, and there have been no further reports from that department.

Additional unpublished sight records from the Pantanal region west of the Paraguay River include Estancia Karenina (Antonio Spiridonof, 08 May 2003, sight record) and Cerro Chovoreca (Jorge Escobar & Cristina Morales, feathers and local testimony), both in Alto Paraguay department. The first photographic documentation of the species was apparently by Hugo del Castillo at Estancia Estrella, Concepción department on 04 December 2007 ( Fig. 2 ). The first photographic documentation of the species west of the Paraguay River that we are aware of is from near Base Aérea V Adrian Jara, Alto Paraguay department, by Ángel Brusquetti during July 2012.

The Paraguayan distribution is closely associated with the Cerrados del Chaco and Pantanal regions of northern and eastern Alto Paraguay, and the Cerrado of northwestern Concepción department. The species is a breeding resident with nesting documented photographically at Estancia Arrecife (S. Centrón pers. comm., 08 October 2010), Estancia Garay Kué on 27 April 2013 (OR) and a pair with young at Retiro San Luís de la Sierra on 13 May 2016 (OR photograph). Some individuals clearly commute between Paraguay and Brazil ( Ridgely, 1981; Hayes et al.,1990). There exists the possibility that Sánchez Labrador’s Guaa obi ( Castex, 1968) refers “in part” to this species (see A. glaucus ).

There is a single Paraguayan specimen of this species in the MNHNP that lacks locality data. The supposed specimen in the USNM (121049; 10 June 1887) collected by Riker at“ 25 miles back from the Diamantina forest ” cit- ed by López(1992) is from Pará State, Brazil,not Paraguay .

Figures

Figure 1. Hyacinth Macaw Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus Estancia Estrella, Concepción department,04December 2007.(Photo H. del Castillo).

Figure 2. Blue-and-yellow Macaw Ara ararauna Aquidabán River on the road north to BellaVista del Norte,30October 2010.(Photo O.Rodríguez).