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Birds · 9 species guides

Parrots & Macaws

Parrots are around 400 species of hook-billed birds in the order Psittaciformes, distinguished by zygodactyl feet with two toes forward and two back, exceptional intelligence, and long lifespans; roughly a third are threatened, making them the most endangered large bird group.

Bill
Short, deep and strongly hooked, with the upper mandible hinged to the skull rather than fused. Powerful enough to crack hard nuts and used as a third limb when climbing.
Feet
Zygodactyl — two toes forward, two back. Parrots are among the very few birds that lift food to the bill with a foot rather than bending down to it.
Macaw versus parrot
Macaws are large long-tailed New World parrots with bare facial skin patterned with fine feather lines, unique to the individual like a fingerprint.
Cockatoo versus parrot
Cockatoos have a mobile head crest and are mostly white, black or grey rather than green — they lack the structural feather colour most parrots have.

Parrots are the most intelligent birds after the corvids and, by several measures, the most threatened. Around 400 species share a distinctive set of features: a strong hooked bill with a hinged upper mandible, feet with two toes forward and two back that work like hands, and cognition that in some species matches a young child on specific reasoning tasks.

Those same qualities are the problem. Parrots are desirable precisely because they are intelligent, long-lived, colourful and capable of speech, and that desirability has driven a trade that has emptied forests. Roughly a third of parrot species are threatened with extinction — a higher proportion than almost any comparable bird group — and the pet trade is a leading reason.

Key facts

  • Around a third of the roughly 400 parrot species are threatened with extinction, one of the highest proportions of any bird group.
  • Zygodactyl feet — two toes forward, two back — let parrots manipulate food like hands, which few other birds can do.
  • Large macaws and cockatoos can live 50 to 80 years, which makes them a lifetime commitment and a common welfare problem when owners cannot continue.
  • Grey parrots are the benchmark for avian cognition, with documented ability to label objects, count small quantities and grasp the concept of absence.
  • The kākāpō is a flightless, ground-nesting nocturnal parrot recovered from 51 birds in 1995 to over 240 through intensive island management.
  • Wild-caught birds still enter the trade despite CITES listings; captive-bred provenance is the single most important thing to verify before acquiring one.

How to recognise them

The features that separate this group in the field, in the order they are usually most useful.

Bill
Short, deep and strongly hooked, with the upper mandible hinged to the skull rather than fused. Powerful enough to crack hard nuts and used as a third limb when climbing.
Feet
Zygodactyl — two toes forward, two back. Parrots are among the very few birds that lift food to the bill with a foot rather than bending down to it.
Macaw versus parrot
Macaws are large long-tailed New World parrots with bare facial skin patterned with fine feather lines, unique to the individual like a fingerprint.
Cockatoo versus parrot
Cockatoos have a mobile head crest and are mostly white, black or grey rather than green — they lack the structural feather colour most parrots have.
Flight
Fast and direct with rapid shallow wingbeats, usually noisy. Parrots are heard well before they are seen.

9 parrots & macaws guides

Search or filter by conservation status. Every guide carries sourced facts, IUCN status and FAQs.

Showing 1-9 of 9 animals

Animal group
A large wild flock of budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) in flight over the Australian outback, their green and yellow plumage bright against a dusk sky.
Least Concern

Birds

B

Budgerigar

Melopsittacus undulatus (Shaw, 1805)

Australia's tiny parrot — a wild flocking bird, not just a cage pet.

Australia

Open guide
Yellow canary perched on a cage bar singing
Domesticated species

Birds

C

Canary

Serinus canaria

The singing island finch of parlours worldwide

Africa · Europe

Open guide
A grey cockatiel with an orange cheek patch and raised crest perched on a branch against a plain background.
Least Concern

Birds

C

Cockatiel

Nymphicus hollandicus (Kerr, 1792) — the smallest member of the cockatoo family

Australia's pocket cockatoo — a gentle, whistling parrot bred into many colour mutations.

Australia (wild); kept worldwide

Open guide
A sulphur-crested cockatoo with raised yellow crest and white plumage perched on a tree limb.
Varies by species

Birds

C

Cockatoo

Family Cacatuidae — 21 species in 4 genera (Cacatua, Calyptorhynchus, Callocephalon, Nymphicus)

Crested parrots of Australasia — loud, long-lived and deeply threatened by trade.

Australia · Indonesia

Open guide
A cobalt-blue Hyacinth Macaw perched on a palm branch in the Brazilian Pantanal, its bright yellow eye-ring and lower-beak marking vivid against deep blue plumage as it grips an acuri palm nut in its massive black beak.
Vulnerable

Birds

H

Hyacinth Macaw

Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus

The cobalt giant of the Pantanal — the largest flying parrot on Earth.

Brazil

Open guide
Kakapo, a moss-green flightless parrot, on a fern-covered log
Critically Endangered

Birds

K

Kakapo

Strigops habroptilus (Gray, 1845) — family Strigopidae

The world's only flightless parrot: nocturnal, booming, and managed bird by bird.

New Zealand — predator-free offshore islands only · Extinct across the mainland

Open guide
Kea alpine parrot perched on a rocky mountain outcrop
Endangered

Birds

K

Kea

Nestor notabilis (Gould, 1856) — family Strigopidae

The world's only alpine parrot, and one of the few birds that solves problems it has never seen before.

New Zealand — South Island alpine and subalpine zones

Open guide
A scarlet macaw (Ara macao) with vivid red, yellow and blue plumage perched against green rainforest foliage.
Varies by species: Least Concern to Extinct in the Wild

Birds

M

Macaw

Tribe Arini (true macaws) — ~18 species across 6 genera: Ara, Anodorhynchus, Cyanopsitta, Primolius, Orthopsittaca, Diopsittaca (family Psittacidae)

Among the most trafficked birds on earth — taken by the tens of thousands every year.

Colombia · Brazil

Open guide
A colourful parrot perched on a branch, showing curved beak, bright plumage and an alert, intelligent expression.
Varies by species

Birds

P

Parrot

Order Psittaciformes — ~400 species in families Psittacidae, Psittaculidae and Cacatuidae

Intelligent, vocal birds of the tropics — among the most traded and most threatened.

Central America · South America

Open guide

Conservation: what this group faces

Parrots are the clearest case of desirability driving extinction risk. Intelligence, colour, longevity and the ability to mimic speech make them sought after, and the trade that follows has stripped birds from forests across South America, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Habitat loss compounds it by removing the large old trees parrots need for nest cavities — a resource that takes a century to replace. CITES listings have reduced but not stopped wild capture, and verifying captive-bred provenance is the most direct thing a prospective owner can do.

Fund bird protection Current appeals

Parrots & macaws: frequently asked questions

How many species of parrot are there?
Around 400 species in the order Psittaciformes, distributed mainly across the tropics with the greatest diversity in South America and Australasia. The count shifts as genetic work splits and merges species.
What is the difference between a parrot and a macaw?
Macaws are parrots. The term refers to large, long-tailed New World parrots in several genera, distinguished by bare facial skin marked with fine feather lines — a pattern unique to each individual.
How long do parrots live?
Small species such as budgerigars typically live 5 to 10 years. Greys commonly reach 40 to 60, and large macaws and cockatoos can pass 80. This lifespan is a frequent welfare problem, as birds routinely outlive the arrangements made for them.
How intelligent are parrots?
Among the most intelligent birds studied. Grey parrots have demonstrated the ability to label objects and colours, count small quantities, and understand absence — a concept comparable to zero. Several species make and use tools.
Why are parrots endangered?
Habitat loss and the pet trade, acting together. Tropical forest clearance removes the large old trees parrots need for nest cavities, and capture for the trade takes birds directly. Many species have small ranges and slow reproduction, so both pressures bite hard.
Do parrots understand what they say?
Mostly they mimic, but not always. Research on grey parrots has shown genuine contextual use of words to request, refuse and label objects. Whether that constitutes language is debated; that it goes beyond mimicry in trained individuals is not.

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