Lear's macaw (Anodorhynchus leari), also known as the indigo macaw, is a large all-blue Brazilian parrot, a member of a large group of neotropical parrots known as macaws. It was first described by Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1856. Lear's macaw is long and weighs around . It is coloured almost completely blue, with a yellow patch of skin at the base of the heavy, black bill. Although there are records of the macaw from Britain from the early 1830s, this bird was only generally recognised as an independent species in the late 1970s. It is rare with a highly restricted native range, which was only discovered in 1978, although intensive conservation efforts have increased the world population about thirtyfold in the first two decades of the 21st century. It inhabits a dry desert-like shrubby environment known as caatinga, and roosts and nests in cavities in sandstone cliffs. It mostly feeds on the nuts of the palm species Syagrus coronata, as well as raiding maize from local farmers. Its ecology also appears curiously linked to cattle ranching. Taxonomy Lear's macaw was named after the famous poet, Edward Lear, who was also an accomplished artist. In his teens in the early 1830s, Lear published a book of drawings and paintings of live parrots in zoos and collections, Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots. One of his paintings in his book strongly resembles this species, and although at the time he titled the work as 'hyacinth macaw' — a larger, darker species with a differently shaped patch of yellow skin adjacent to the base of the bill, which it closely resembles - not everyone agreed, and a quarter century later, in 1856, the illustration was given a species description by the French ornithologist and nephew of Emperor Napoleon, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, who chose to commemorate the poet in the specific name. Most authorities, however, were unconvinced of the distinctness of the new taxon. The rarely seen bird was not considered a distinct species until 1978, when German-born, Brazilian-naturalised ornithologist Helmut Sick finally located the wild population. Description Lear's macaw is long and weighs around . The body, tail, and wings are dark metallic blue with a faint, often barely visible, tinge of green, and the head is a slightly paler shade. It has an area of pale-yellow skin adjacent to the base of its beak, and orange-yellow eye rings. It