Military Macaw

An endangered parrot by pet trade

My illustration for Animal Alphabets, letter #M - Military Macaw.
The Military Macaw (Ara Militaris) is a large parrot with predominantly green plumage. The wild birds inhabits the forests of Mexico an South America, even though the Military Macaw is often bred in captivity for pet trade. These parrots are now protected from being captured for trade by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Nevertheless their capturing for pet trade industry coupled with habitat loss led to a significant decrease of the population of military macaw, that is listed as vulnerable in IUCN Red List since 2013.
In my illustration, a military macaw and its chick have just escaped from their urban cage and are trying to find their way back to the forest. [2017]