Scarlet Macaws of Costa Rica
Nov 11, 2026
You usually hear them before you see them. A pair of scarlet macaws crossing the canopy announces itself with a raw, carrying call, and then they're overhead, impossibly bright against the green: deep red bodies, wings banded in yellow and blue, long tails streaming behind. For me they're one of the great joys of working in Costa Rica.
A conservation comeback
Scarlet macaws were once in steep decline across Central America, lost to habitat destruction and the pet trade. Costa Rica has become one of their quiet success stories. On the Osa Peninsula and along the central Pacific, protected forest and dedicated conservation work have brought the birds back in real numbers, until the sight of wild macaws overhead is, wonderfully, ordinary again.
Photographing them feels like documenting a recovery as much as a species.
Birds that mate for life
Part of what makes macaws so photogenic is their devotion. They pair for life and travel in twos, flying wingtip to wingtip, preening and feeding together. Watch a pair long enough and you start to read the relationship, which is where images like La Pareja ('the pair') and Love Birds come from.
Photographing them in the wild
Macaws are loud but not careless; they keep their distance, and the light in the rainforest is rarely easy. Making a clean image means patience: learning their routes between feeding trees, waiting for the moment a pair lifts off, and being ready when a splash of red crosses a gap in the canopy. Every frame is a wild bird on its own terms, never baited or captive.
Featured work, the one I would save first
A rainbow behind the rainbow
Of all the macaw images I've made, one stands apart, and it's the one I'd save first. I call it Double Rainbow, and the name is the whole story. As the sun fell toward the horizon, a pair of scarlet macaws, birds that already wear every color of the spectrum, climbed a palm against the sky. And then, behind them, a rainbow bloomed in the last warm light.
Everything had to align at once: the birds in that exact place, the light at that angle, the rain and sun trading the sky, and a few seconds for all of it to hold together. I've photographed macaws for years and have never seen anything else like it, a rainbow behind the rainbow colored birds at the close of the day. It remains my favorite macaw photograph, and one of the pieces I'm proudest to offer.
See the work
These encounters live in the Birds and Wildlife collections, and within the broader Costa Rica body of work. A macaw piece brings color, warmth, and life to a room, vivid enough to carry a living room wall, a nursery, or a bright office. Each is made to order in your choice of size, frame, and finish, and you can preview it true to size on your wall before you buy.