Majestic Macaws (and other beautiful birds) at Macaw Mountain

Scarlet Macaws are among some of the most famous and easily recognized birds in the world, which can be a double-edged sword for them. While their beauty and intelligence, make them a perfect candidate for repopulation campaigns, they are also the main reasons why Scarlet Macaws are endangered in the wild in the first place. 

Macaws are a particularly vulnerable bird because so many people want to keep them as pets, and so they have a tendency to be taken from the wild by poachers looking to make some quick cash. That’s where places like Macaw Mountain come into play.

Where is it?

What is it?

Macaw Mountain is a wildlife rehabilitation and release center located in the hills near Copan Ruinas, Honduras. But unlike some of the other wildlife rescues that we’ve visited, Macaw Mountain specializes in birds, especially Scarlet Macaws. 

The park itself is a ton of fun. The path that leads through their property was well maintained, with plenty of places to take breaks if you need them. There were plenty of great birds to look at and even a hatchery where you might get to see some newly hatched macaw chicks!  

Why Should I Visit?

Wildlife rehabilitation centers work to take animals that have been injured or abandoned and get them ready for a release into the wild, and Macaw Mountain is no different. Most of the macaws that they receive are former pets or hotel birds that have been mistreated or abandoned, which means they can’t just be released back into the wild. 

That could be because the bird has gotten too attached to people, or because it no longer knows how to find food in the wild, or even because its plumage has been ruined by years in captivity. 

Whatever the case, places like Macaw Mountain work to help the bird adjust to its new circumstances and release them into the wild, where it’s possible. If it’s not possible, then they can give the bird a new home on site.

So, why should you visit? Well, for a few reasons.

Get close up to some spectacular birds

Macaw Mountain has some absolutely spectacular birds living throughout their park, and there are plenty of chances to get much closer to them than you would in the wild. Often, I would find the birds flying right up the edge of their habitat to greet me as I walked by! 

And while they do have plenty of their namesake birds, Macaw Mountain also has a ton of other birds to see. 

Some of my favorites were the great curassows, the toucans, and the toucanets! 

See some baby macaws in the hatchery

One of Macaw Mountain’s long-term goals is increasing the numbers of Scarlet Macaws in the wild, and towards that end, they also have a macaw breeding program! After hatching, Macaws don’t stay small long, but if you’re lucky you may get the chance to see some hatchlings that are still in the hatchery. 

Watch macaws getting released back into the wild

Since the ultimate goal is to restore the free-flying macaw populations in Honduras, the birds that hatch there are regularly released into the wild. When we visited in early 2021, we just happened to visit around the time they were releasing a flock from one of the habitats, and we got the chance to watch! 

Releasing these birds into the wild is sort of a big deal, because of how few Macaws are left in the wild. While they aren’t considered to be an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, they are considered to be endangered by a number of different organizations, including under the United States Endangered Species Act. 

Reintroduction projects are an important part of maintaining the wild populations of these spectacular birds. Macaws can be seen flying overhead throughout the Copan Ruinas area, and that is in large part due to the efforts of Macaw Mountain. 

My family loved almost everything about our time in Copan Ruinas. We loved how easy it is to get around and how safe we felt walking the streets. There were some amazing local restaurants, and the city’s namesake Mayan ruins were some of my favorites throughout all of Central America. 

Macaw Mountain was just the sort of top-notch experience that you would expect in a place like Copan Ruinas and is most definitely a place I would suggest for anyone looking to see some beautiful birds. 

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