Scarlet macaws are big parrots — their body is about 90 centimetres long, and nearly half of that is their magnificent long tail. They live in the tallest trees of the rainforest and nest in hollow trunks high above the ground. A mated pair of macaws will often return to the same nesting tree year after year.
Macaws are highly intelligent birds. In the wild they eat fruit, seeds and nuts, and their powerful curved beaks can crack open hard shells that would be impossible for most other birds. They are also very noisy — their loud calls ring out through the forest and you often hear them long before you see them.
In Belize, the scarlet macaw population had fallen quite low, but conservation programmes have helped numbers increase again. Local communities have worked hard to protect nesting sites, and special nest boxes have been put up in trees to give the birds safe places to raise their chicks.
Seeing a flock of scarlet macaws fly overhead — a flash of red, yellow and blue streaking across the blue sky — is something people who have seen it never forget. Many Belizeans are enormously proud that these spectacular birds still call their country home.