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#110 Glaucous Macaw

Critically Endangered

Last of the parrot mini-series week. That sadly does not mean I'm done with parrot type birds. There are a lot that are still critically endangered. There are two other macaws that this one is closely related to. They look very similar, but the Glaucous has a more grey-ish blue head than the brighter blue the others have. The body of the Glaucous was closer to turquoise than the other macaws. They lived in several South American countries but the last recorded was in the 1870's and the last confirmed sighting in the 1980's. They are listed as critically endangered but are presumed extinct. They were caught for bird trade and the Yatay palm they fed on was largely chopped down.


I love learning about things, anything. I am not the sort who would be good at Jeopardy or trivial pursuit because I can't usually recall things when I want to. Because of damage from epilepsy, my short term memory is almost nonexistent. Did you know that in the English language (and in fact many others), blue was not one of the first colours with an actual name. Black and white, red, blood red, yellow, and green all got colours first. I suppose it is understandable. People probably didn't need to say what colour the sky was really, just that it was clear, stormy, or night. Most things in nature aren't blue actually, and blue eyes make up a small portion of the population, so it is understandable blue wouldn't be an important colour to name. Blue eyes don't actually contain any blue pigment, and especially lighter eyes can seem to change colour depending on the light. It is due to how the light gets scattered, similarly to how the sky looks blue even though it is not actually. Oh, and it is thought the reason Michelangelo's "The Entombment" was not finished is that he ran out of blue and couldn't afford to buy more. Ultramarine was the most expensive pigment of the Renaissance. Now you know some useless trivia about the colour blue, I hope you find a way to make it useful.

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