Macaws: A Complete Guide

MACAWS: A Complete Guide by Rosemary Low

This was the first book I finished in 2026.

BOOKBLOG - Macaws A Complete Guide Rosemary Low

I rate it as 4 / 5

It was published in 1990.

I picked it up used on Amazon as a continuation of my macaw obsession, which has in no part been hindered by the gorgeous animal calmly perched next to me as I type this.

Low has some strong opinions on the suitability of large macaws as pets - namely, that they’re not.

“In short, the large macaws cannot be considered suitable house pets”

“I doubt whether one person in 500 […] has the necessary sympathetic attitude.”

She seems biased towards mini macaws and speaks positively towards all of them. The only listed downside is that they are “noisy.”

She had this to say about my companion’s species: Adult birds are seldom gentle and affectionate; they tend to be aggressive and unreliable in temperament. Unfortunate but not, in my case, untrue.

There was some dry humor that I enjoyed: “Such innocents are likely to be the victims of unscrupulous sellers, to end up with plucked birds (‘moulting’), biters or screamers”

There were many enlightening tidbits:

  • The largest cage size recommendation goes not to the Hyacinth, but the Red-fronted.
  • I had assumed the smallest species would be the most prolific breeder, but it is the Illiger’s macaw.
  • Hyacinths are nicer than ara macaws, to the point that it made wild individuals easier to trap. It says something that even she, who believed they were too rare to ethically keep as pets back in 1990, acknowledged that they “make wonderful pets for the few who [have the resources].” This is the most glowing recommendation out of all the large macaws.
  • The importance of variety in the diet, not just nutritionally-complete pellets.

It was also a snapshot into the past.

PDD only got a small section compared to other diseases. But even then, it was no longer called macaw wasting disease.

Wild-caught parrots were commonplace. The overwhelming majority of companion parrots now in 2026 are captive-bred, or they’ve survived the 40+ years since their capture.

The genus Primolius did not exist, nor Orthopsittaca. Ambigua became ambiguus. Etc.

The fact that P. couloni was the rarest macaw in aviculture was surprising. She has worked with the Spix’s macaw but not couloni, which is readily available in the US today.

Some species have skyrocketed in popularity. Caninde (“Pet potential: should not be considered: it is much too rare.”) and Red-fronted macaws are now stable in captivity and available at reasonable prices, although neither is doing too well in the wild.

This 2023 post is about the reintroduction of Lear’s macaws by Loro Parque, where the author once worked as a parrot curator. Back then, Loro Parque did not have any Lear’s. They were rare enough that the Low could list every single individual in captivity worldwide, in one paragraph.

I greatly enjoyed the conservation sections for each species. Some of it is poaching and habitat loss, as you might expect. Scarlets have “local trade” as a third factor. But it is different for each. For the Lear’s macaw she recommends buying land - because their nesting grounds are relatively cheap and useless to humans. For B&Gs she recommends stricter import quotas.

For a few species she recommends no action at all.

Overall I found this book valuable despite strongly disagreeing with the “large macaws make terrible pets” stance.

If you like macaws, this is worth a read. Rosemary Low has a great many books published on various parrots. Eventually I’d like to read them all.

Enjoy this first post. The second one is in the works. I hope to review texts across all genres. So if you’re here for niche bird stuff, you will unfortunately be disappointed.

But there will be more.

Someday.

For this book blog, I will be going for quantity over quality. Perfection, enemy, good.

Adios!