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  Profile

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  In flight

Parrots

Spix’s Macaw

Cyanopsitta spixii

• legendary
• 56 km/h
• Extinct in the Wild

Declared extinct in the wild in 2000, reintroduced in 2022. The rarest macaw on Earth, and your message is priceless.

Population

Officially 0 mature individuals in the wild per the current (2019) global IUCN/BirdLife assessment, still in force as of IUCN database version 2026-1. On-the-ground picture has since moved past that snapshot: captive-bred birds were relocated from Germany to Brazil in 2020 purely to prepare for release; actual wild releases began June 2022 (8 birds) and December 2022 (12 birds, ~20 total that year, with BirdLife/Wikipedia citing 52 individuals reintroduced cumulatively since). First wild-hatched chicks were confirmed October 2023. As of November 2025, 11 individuals were confirmed still surviving in the wild — and all 11 were reported infected with a fatal circovirus (beak-and-feather disease) that same month, an acute new threat to the reintroduced cohort. Captive population is approximately 177 individuals (2022 figure, the most recent concrete count found; up from ~110 in 2015 and ~158 in 2018) — commonly rounded to "~150-200" in secondary sources.

Habitat

Riparian gallery woodland dominated by Caraibeira (Tabebuia aurea/caraiba) trees along seasonal watercourses within the semi-arid Caatinga thorn-scrub of the Rio São Francisco drainage basin; classified broadly as subtropical/tropical dry forest and shrubland.

Fun fact

Spix's Macaw was declared Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN after the last known wild individual disappeared around 2000, and that official global status still stands today — even though a captive-breeding and reintroduction program has since released 20 birds into Brazil's Caatinga (June and December 2022), produced the species' first wild-hatched chicks in October 2023, and as of November 2025 has 11 free-flying survivors, all of whom were just diagnosed with a fatal circovirus outbreak.

Range

Historically endemic to a small area of northern Bahia (near the Rio São Francisco), northeastern Brazil; functionally extinct in the wild since the last confirmed wild sighting in 2000. Reintroduction is active at its former range near Curaçá, Bahia: birds were relocated from Germany to Brazil in 2020 solely as preparation, with the first physical wild releases occurring June 2022 (8 birds) and December 2022 (12 birds) — reintroduction did NOT begin in 2020 as the first-pass record stated.

Diet

Seeds and nuts of Caraibeira (Tabebuia aurea/caraiba), Pinhão (Jatropha spp.), Favela (Cnidoscolus spp.), Joazeiro (Ziziphus joazeiro), and other Euphorbiaceae and native Caatinga plants.

Size

0.56 m

Lifespan

34 years