VISUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INDIGO/LEAR'S MACAW & HYACINTH MACAW:
Indigo macaws: greenish feathers that vary in hue and saturation around the body (not always very visible), smaller size (hard to tell in images), larger yellow patches of skin, and a diagnostic white ring around eye. While that ring may not be super visible, the yellow, sometimes teardrop shaped skin patch is visible from far distances.
Hyacinth macaws: rich, cobalt blue feathers that are uniform around the body. Absolutely massive size. Yellow skin patches are generally smaller. Eye has a black ring around it instead of the white, which is, again, diagnostic.
Identifying these beautiful macaws can be difficult at first, but the more you focus on these features, the more each species will stand out.
Here’s a gift I painted for someone who loves to knit - a scarlet macaw sharing his colors with a white umbrella cockatoo. This tiny (6 x 3 1/4 inches) watercolor and gouache painting is from the very beginning of 2021....feels like a million years ago lol.