Editing Lear's macaw (section)

==Ecology and behaviour==

===Feeding===
The primary diet of Lear's macaw are the nuts (as many as 350 per day) of the palm ''[[Syagrus coronata]]'', locally known as ''licuri'', but the seeds of ''[[Melanoxylon]]'', ''[[Jatropha mollissima]]'', ''[[Dioclea (plant)|Dioclea]]'', ''[[Spondias tuberosa]]'', ''[[Schinopsis brasiliensis]]'' and ''[[Zea mays]]'' are also eaten, as well as the flowers of ''[[Agave]]''.<ref name=IUCN2012>{{cite iucn|url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22685521/37862640 |title=''Anodorhynchus leari'' |author=BirdLife International |author-link=BirdLife International |year=2012 |access-date=5 July 2012}}</ref>

The macaw usually forages in groups. They preferentially feed on the palms where they grow in groves, mixed together with taller trees. At least thirty confirmed feeding localities are known throughout the range. A tall tree is selected by the flock as base to carefully inspect the feeding area. First a pair descends to the level of the palms to assess the suitability, the pair then returns to base, and then the entire flock descends to decide if it is worth staying around.<ref name="theparrotsocietyuk.org"/> If it is, then the macaws generally feed directly at the site, tearing the fibrous pulp off the fruit to obtain the extremely hard and thick-shelled nut. The pulp is discarded.<ref name="Tella2020">{{cite journal |last1=Tella |first1=José L. |last2=Hiraldo |first2=Fernando |last3=Pacífico |first3=Erica |last4=Díaz-Luque |first4=José A. |last5=Dénes |first5=Francisco V. |last6=Fontoura |first6=Fernanda M. |last7=Guedes |first7=Neiva |author-link7=Neiva Maria Robaldo Guedes |last8=Blanco |first8=Guillermo |date=24 January 2020 |title=Conserving the Diversity of Ecological Interactions: The Role of Two Threatened Macaw Species as Legitimate Dispersers of "Megafaunal" Fruits |journal=Diversity |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=45 |doi=10.3390/d12020045 |doi-access=free |hdl-access=free |hdl=10261/216208}}</ref> The heavy bills appear to have evolved specifically to crack open the palm nuts with a chisel-shaped edge, being precisely of the correct size and shape.<ref name=Yamashita1993>{{Cite journal|last1=Yamashita |first1=Carlos |last2=de Paula Valle |first2=Mauro |year=1993 |title=On the linkage between ''Anodorhynchus'' macaws and palm nuts, and the extinction of the Glaucous Macaw |journal=[[Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club]] |volume=113 |pages=53–60 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40028158}}</ref> Upon occasion the birds maw fly off to a better perch to consume the nut, sometimes even carrying a branchlet with a few fruit.<ref name=Tella2020/> Such perches are generally a branch of a tall tree or a cliff face, and the ground below such a perch will become littered with piles of cracked palm nut shells, and are thus easily spotted.<ref name=Yamashita1993/><ref name=Yamashita1997>{{Cite journal|last1=Yamashita |first1=Carlos |date=December 1997 |title=''Anodorhynchus'' macaws as followers of extinct megafauna: an hypothesis |url=https://www.bluemacaws.org/en-gb/article/anodorhynchus-macaws-as-followers-of-extinct-megafauna |journal=Ararajuba |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=176–182 |access-date=15 October 2021}}</ref>

A mystery regarding plants in the [[Neotropic]]s with very large fruit or seeds is which type of [[zoochory|animal disperses the seeds]]. Elsewhere on earth [[megaherbivore|large herbivorous mammals]] are the dispersal agents for such plants, but these are largely absent in South America today. The prevailing [[Evolutionary anachronism#Megafauna dispersal syndrome|theory]] is that such mammals once performed these functions, but that [[Quaternary extinction#Neotropic: South America|Late Pleistocene extinctions]] of most of these animals had rendered large-fruited plants impotent regarding the spread of their seed, at least until humans introduced [[livestock]].<ref name=Tella2020/><ref name=Yamashita1997/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collevatti |first1=Rosane G. |last2=Lima |first2=Jacqueline S. |last3=Ballesteros-Mejia |first3=Liliana |date=5 September 2019 |title=Megafauna Seed Dispersal in the Neotropics: A Meta-Analysis Shows No Genetic Signal of Loss of Long-Distance Seed Dispersal |journal=Frontiers in Genetics |volume=10 |pages=788 |doi=10.3389/fgene.2019.00788|pmid=31543903 | pmc=6739635|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jansen |first1=Patrick A. |last2=Hirsch |first2=Ben T. |last3=Emsens |first3=Willem-Jan |last4=Zamora-Gutierrez |first4=Veronica |last5=Wikelski |first5=Martin |last6=Kays |first6=Roland |date=31 July 2012 |title=Thieving rodents as substitute dispersers of megafaunal seeds |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=109 |issue=31 |pages=12610–12615 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1205184109|pmc=3412018 |pmid=22802644|bibcode=2012PNAS..10912610J |doi-access=free }}</ref> The ''Syagrus coronata'' palm, however, may have found a way to avoid such a fate, despite its large nuts.<ref name=Tella2020/> Macaws are very messy eaters,<ref name=seaworld/> and this species is no different. A study found a significant number of undamaged palm nuts on the ground below the branches or rocks where the birds occasionally carry their harvest.<ref name=Tella2020/>

A method by which the birds may secondarily disperse the nuts is by their habit of coming down to the ground to search out the nuts regurgitated by cattle, which eat the fruit, but usually cough up the large seeds, cleaned of pulp, which often aggregate in areas where the ruminants rest, and some also appear to be viable after this ordeal.<ref name=Tella2020/><ref name=Yamashita1997/> Flocks of Lear's macaws will congregate at cattle corrals and walk around on the bare ground of [[Ruminant|rumination]] sites.<ref name=Yamashita1997/> After finding one, the regurgitated nut is often eaten on a high perch elsewhere.<ref name=Tella2020/> Cattle also [[Ecosystem engineer|alter the ecosystem]] by creating open spaces in the environment. It is thus possible that [[cattle ranch]]ing simulates the original [[ecology]] of Bahia, before the native [[megafauna]] had been wiped out around the time the Native Americans colonised America. Just 11,000 years ago, perhaps these macaws were [[Commensalism|commensals]] to one or some of the giant [[Browsing (herbivory)|browsing]] [[herbivore]] species of northeast Brazil which traveled in herds, and the palms depended on this relationship for effective dispersal.<ref name=Yamashita1997/>

Lear's macaw are somewhat of a [[pest species]], and a major problem caused by the animals is their habit of raiding the plots of local [[subsistence farmer]]s to consume maize (''Zea mays''). In order to minimize the chagrin of victims and stop them from shooting at the birds, a scheme was implemented in 2005 to compensate farmers for crops lost to the animals with bags of maize from elsewhere.<ref name=IUCN2020/><ref name="theparrotsocietyuk.org"/> During the COVID epidemic this scheme was halted, because most of the farmers were elderly, but the macaws were not shot, as COVID restrictions prevented farmers from marketing their corn anyway.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bluemacaws.org/news.php?viewmessage=474 |title=Covid-19 prevents the corn replacement team operating |last=Pittman |first=Tony |date=23 November 2020 |website=BlueMacaws |publisher=Tony Pittman |access-date=12 October 2021}}</ref>

===Breeding===
The mating season starts at the beginning of the summer rains, at the start of the year, and extends up to May, when the young begin to fledge and leave the nest.<ref name="theparrotsocietyuk.org"/> A pair of Lear's macaw lay two or three eggs per year.<ref name=seaworld/><ref name="theparrotsocietyuk.org"/> The eggs are incubated for approximately 29 days.<ref name=seaworld/> Although some pairs produce three chicks, the average survival rate is two per pair. However, not all pairs of birds in the wild population mate often or at all.<ref name="theparrotsocietyuk.org"/> The young remain with their parents for up to a year. Juveniles reach sexual maturity around 2–4 years of age.<ref name=seaworld/>