Hyacinth Macaw

Diet
Dependent on small number of palm species, using different species in different areas: in Amazon region Maximiliana regia, Orbignya martiana' and Astrocaryum; in dry NE of range Attalea funifera and Syagrus coronata, where most foraging done on ground; other fruits also sometimes taken, and even snails Pomacea; in the Pantanal Scheelea phalerata and Acrocomia totai. This behaviour was recorded by the English naturalist Henry Walter Bates in his 1863 book The Naturalist on the River Amazons, where he wrote that

"It flies in pairs, and feeds on the hard nuts of several palms, but especially of the Mucuja (Acrocomia lasiospatha). These nuts, which are so hard as to be difficult to break with a heavy hammer, are crushed to a pulp by the powerful beak of this macaw."

- Bates