Blue-and-yellow Macaw vs Blue-tailed Emerald

Ara ararauna compared with Chlorostilbon mellisugus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Blue-and-yellow Macaw	Blue-tailed Emerald
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class same	Aves (Birds)	Aves (Birds)
Order	Psittaciformes (Parrots)	Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
Family	Psittacidae (True Parrots)	Trochilidae
Genus	Ara (Macaws)	Chlorostilbon
Species	Ara ararauna	Chlorostilbon mellisugus

Evolutionary Relationship

Blue-and-yellow Macaw and Blue-tailed Emerald share a common ancestor at the Class level: Aves. (Birds)

Conservation Status

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

LC — Least Concern

Blue-tailed Emerald

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Blue-and-yellow Macaw	Blue-tailed Emerald
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Taiwan), Europe (5 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela).

Blue-tailed Emerald

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, Norway, and Venezuela.

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

One of the most striking and widely kept macaw species, blue-and-yellow macaws display brilliant cobalt blue upper parts contrasting with vivid yellow underparts and green forehead. They inhabit forest, woodland, and savanna from eastern Panama through Venezuela, Brazil, and Bolivia to Peru and Ecuador. Highly intelligent, they live in pairs or small flocks, feeding on palm nuts, seeds, and fruit. Popular in aviculture for over 400 years, they can live 80+ years in captivity.

Blue-tailed Emerald

A small, jewel-like hummingbird named for the brilliant blue-green iridescence of the tail feathers, male blue-tailed emeralds display glittering green plumage throughout with a contrasting deep blue-green forked tail. Found in lowland tropical forest edges, savannas, and gardens from Venezuela and Colombia east to Trinidad and south to Bolivia and Brazil. They are common in disturbed and secondary habitats, making them relatively resilient to habitat modification compared to more specialized hummingbirds.

Shared Countries

Both species can be found in 4 countries:

🇨🇴 Colombia 🇪🇨 Ecuador 🇳🇴 Norway 🇻🇪 Venezuela