All species of macaws occur in South and Central Americal and Mexico. A few species, now extinct, once inhabited the islands of the Carribean.
Macaws range in size from very small to extremely large.
All Ara species have conspicuous patches of bare skin on the face, although some species, such as the military, green-winged and blue and gold, have bands of short feathers striping the facial skin. All macaws have long tapering tail feathers and display brilliantly colored plumage. Some of the feathers are tiny, whereas others, such as the heavy flight feathers of the wing and tail, are very large. Some birds appear to have eyelashes. In reality these eyelashes are specially structured feathers.