Beautiful Sunflower vs Scarlet Macaw

Helianthus laetiflorus compared with Ara macao

Key Differences

Beautiful Sunflower is Not Evaluated while Scarlet Macaw is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Beautiful Sunflower	Scarlet Macaw
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Psittaciformes (Parrots)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Psittacidae (True Parrots)
Genus	Helianthus (Sunflowers)	Ara (Macaws)
Species	Helianthus laetiflorus	Ara macao

Conservation Status

Beautiful Sunflower

NE — Not Evaluated

Scarlet Macaw

LC — Least Concern

Population: ~50.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Beautiful Sunflower	Scarlet Macaw
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	50 years
Average Length	—	85 cm
Average Weight	—	1.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Beautiful Sunflower

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (17 countries), North America (Canada, United States), and South America (Brazil).

Scarlet Macaw

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, forests, and vegetated habitats.

Range

Found across Europe (5 countries) and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela). Population trends indicate a declining trajectory in parts of its range.

Beautiful Sunflower

The Beautiful Sunflower (Helianthus laetiflorus) is a species in the genus Helianthus. Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions. The species is documented in scientific literature under the name Helianthus laetiflorus.

Scarlet Macaw

One of the most brilliantly colored birds in the Americas, scarlet macaws display vivid red, yellow, and blue plumage with wingspans reaching 1 meter. Found in humid lowland forests from Mexico to Bolivia, they are highly intelligent, long-lived — up to 75 years — and form lifelong pair bonds. They travel long distances to clay licks where they consume mineral-rich soil to detoxify seeds. Listed as Least Concern but locally threatened by habitat loss and the pet trade.