Readers’ wildlife photos

Here’s the second installment of photos from Ephraim Heller’s visit to the Pantanal of Brazil, featuring parrots and their relatives. Ephraim’s captions and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge his photos buy clicking on them.

The Pantanal is the world’s largest tropical wetland area and the world’s largest flooded grasslands. I was there in July 2025, which got me thinking about the relationship between the macaws, parrots, and parakeets that I photographed. Here’s what I learned (I am not an expert so corrections are welcome).

Psittacidae, Psittaculidae, and Psittrichasiidae are the three primary families within the order Psittaciformes, which encompasses all true parrots.

Psittacidae (179 species) consists of African and New World parrots, including genera such as macaws, Amazon parrots, and conures. These birds generally exhibit vibrant coloration, strong curved beaks, and zygodactyl feet (two toes facing forward, two backward). They are mostly found in South and Central America and Africa. The Psittacidae are what I photographed in Brazil.

Psittaculidae (203 species) comprises Old World parrots, which includes lovebirds, lorikeets, broad-tailed parrots, and Asian/Australasian species. Members are found throughout Africa, Asia, and Australasia. This group is highly diverse in size, color, and ecological roles but generally does not include the larger, more robust macaws of the Americas.

Psittrichasiidae is a smaller family (5 species) containing unique parrots restricted to Madagascar and the New Guinea region. These are distinguished by their more subdued plumage, longer tails, and some specialized dietary preferences.

Molecular studies suggest that parrots evolved approximately 59 million years ago in Gondwana. The data place most of the diversification of Psittaciformes around 40 Mya, after the separation of Australia from West Antarctica and South America. The three true parrot lineages (Psittacidae, Psittrichasiidae, and Psittaculidae) diverged from their common ancestor about 28.5 million years ago.

Within Psittacidae, macaws, parrots, and parakeets diverged from each other about 10-15 million years ago. Brazil boasts the world’s greatest diversity of parrots, with about 87 species spread across the three groups: macaws, parrots, and parakeets.

Macaws belong to the subfamily Arinae. They are the largest of the Brazilian parrot group, (up to 89cm and 1,200g for the Scarlet Macaw), with long tails and powerful beaks. Their plumage is vividly colored—often with combinations of red, yellow, blue, and green.

Blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna):

Hyacinth macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus):

Parrots are medium-sized with robust bodies, short tails, and strong beaks. Plumage is usually green, with some species showing vivid accent colors.

Turquoise-fronted Amazon parrot (Amazona aestiva):

Orange-winged Amazon parrot (Amazona amazonica):

A turquoise-fronted Amazon parrot and an orange-winged Amazon parrot:

Festive Amazon parrot (Amazona festiva):

Parakeets have smaller sizes, slender bodies, and longer tapering tails compared to typical parrots:

Blue-crowned parakeet (Thectocercus acuticaudatus):

Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus) at its giant communal nest:

Tui parakeet (Brotogeris sanctithomae):

Nanday parakeet (Aratinga nenday):

And finally, a dragon hatchling contemplating the full moon: