Orthopsittaca manilata
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The red-bellied macaw (Orthopsittaca manilatus), also known as Guacamaya manilata, is a medium-sized, mostly green parrot, a member of a group of large Neotropical parrots known as macaws. It is the largest of what are commonly called "mini-macaws". The belly has a large maroon patch which gives the species its name.
It is endemic to tropical Amazonian South America (as well as the Caribbean island of Trinidad), from Colombia south to Amazonian Peru and Bolivia, and central Brazil as far as the northwestern cerrado. Its habitat is moriche (or buriti) palm (Mauritia flexuosa) swamp forests and sandy savannahs with palm groves. They are critically dependent on the Moriche palm for roosting, feeding and nesting. Although the bird is locally common, in places it has been adversely affected by clearing of the palms for use as posts, or to allow cattle ranching; also by capture for the pet trade.
Not to be confused with the African red-bellied parrot (Poicephalus rufiventris), a similarly named smaller parrot. The red-bellied macaw was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 2 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 4 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 5 | Chingaza National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 6 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 7 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 8 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Campo Grande | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Brasilia | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zlín-Lešná Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 2 | Safari World | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Zoológico de Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Loro Parque | 🇪🇸 Spain |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Red-bellied Macaw sighting in Sierra de la Macarena National Park on a given day, based on 48 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 185th most-seen of the 418 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Red-bellied Macaw in Sierra de la Macarena National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February–April, June–August and October–November, the lowest months. That is one of Sierra de la Macarena National Park's driest months, with about 95 mm of rain against 430 mm in May.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-bellied Macaw sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
6th of 8
Of the 8 parks where we can rate Red-bellied Macaw sightings, Sierra de la Macarena National Park ranks 6th at about 10%. The best odds are in Yasuní National Park (Ecuador, about 40%), Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve (Ecuador, about 30%) and Tambopata National Reserve (Peru, about 20%).
Same family: Psittacidae
The closest relatives of the Red-bellied Macaw that you can see in Sierra de la Macarena National Park (family Psittacidae, New World and African Parrots) are Chestnut-fronted Macaw (about 30%), Blue-headed Parrot (about 20%) and Cobalt-winged Parakeet (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-bellied Macaw is recorded against all the birds logged in Sierra de la Macarena National Park (48 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
