Scarlet Macaw — Birds

The story behind the answer

This is a Scarlet Macaw: a mostly bright-red parrot with a bold yellow band across the middle of the wing and blue flight feathers and tail, plus a white bare face etched with fine red feather lines. That yellow band distinguishes it from the Green-winged Macaw (which shows green, not yellow, on the wing). It’s far redder than the Blue-and-yellow Macaw, and much brighter than the mostly green Red-fronted Macaw with just a small red forehead.

Scarlet Macaws inhabit tropical forests from southern Mexico to the Amazon, where their powerful bills crack nuts and their movements disperse seeds. Memory tip: think “stoplight wings”—red body, yellow mid-wing, blue tips.