Big Smoky Bracket vs Scarlet Macaw

Bjerkandera fumosa compared with Ara macao

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Big Smoky Bracket	Scarlet Macaw
Kingdom	Fungi (Fungi)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Basidiomycota (Club Fungi)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Agaricomycetes (Mushrooms)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Polyporales (Polyporales)	Psittaciformes (Parrots)
Family	Phanerochaetaceae	Psittacidae (True Parrots)
Genus	Bjerkandera	Ara (Macaws)
Species	Bjerkandera fumosa	Ara macao

Conservation Status

Big Smoky Bracket

LC — Least Concern

Scarlet Macaw

LC — Least Concern

Population: ~50.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Big Smoky Bracket	Scarlet Macaw
Diet	—	Herbivore
Average Lifespan	—	50 years
Average Length	—	85 cm
Average Weight	—	1.0 kg

Habitat & Geographic Range

Big Smoky Bracket

Habitat

Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (5 countries), North America (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.

Big Smoky Bracket

The Big Smoky Bracket (Bjerkandera fumosa) is a species in the genus Bjerkandera. It is currently classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Typically found in forest floors, decomposing wood, and soil ecosystems.

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.