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Movie "Rio" bird ID - Blue Macaw? (1 Viewer)

PONYRCR

PONYRCR

Well-known member
I was talking to someone about the movie "Rio" and the birds in it. She asked me if I knew what kind of bird the lead character (Blu) in the movie was.

I told her a made-up bird that doesn't really exist. She said no he is a Blue Macaw. Since I don't know much about the parrots of the world I didn't argue the point with her.

It made me curious so I did a little research. I can't find any evidence of there being a Blue Macaw. Is there such a bird?

Here's a picture of the bird from the movie. Is this in fact a made-up bird or does this parrot really exist and if so what kind is it?
 

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There's no species commonly known as 'Blue Macaw' but there are several macaw species that have all-blue plumage - Hyacinth, Lear's, Glaucous (probably extinct) and Spix's Macaws. The first three all have a prominent yellow patch of bare skin next to the bill, so I think Spix's Macaw may be the closest match. Also the plot of the film is kind of similar to the real situation with Spix's Macaw (probably extinct in the wild but there is a very small captive population and reintroductions may be on the cards one day).
 
Rio is a Spix Macaw


Blu, a rare blue Spix's Macaw, travels to Rio to save his species. There he meets the only other bird of his kind, Jewel, along with a host of other colorful characters.
 
I've just seen this movie, and I'm wondering about the ids of the other species shown. Are they all real species, or just made up? The opening sequence is available here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ81_Q0lYAM

I was impressed with the 3D rendering of the plumage. The birds all seemed to have primaries, secondaries, coverts, etc, although they never stood still long enough to count them or anything.

I think these people could produce a pretty good video field guide if they wanted to, although it's interesting that they went to so much trouble with the plumage, but seem to have got the toes only half right. They never really sit still enough to see properly, but it looked to me like they correctly had only two front toes on the parrots, but still had only one back toe. It wasn't the kind of movie that demands anatomical correctness, of course.
 
Although given obvious artistic licence, I could guess at what most of those birds are supposed to be, so I think there has been some fairly decent research into the birds of the region.
 
There is actually a point in the movie where one of the characters is dressed up as a macaw, looks into a mirror, and exclaims the Latin name for Spix's Macaw - Cyanopsitta spixi.
 
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