Birds in The Mayan Art – Birdwatching Guatemala

Parrots & Macaws

English Name:                  Parrots and Macaws

Family:                             Psittacidae

Spanish Names:              Loro, Cotorro; Guacamaya, Papagayo

Maya Names:                  Ix kan, Xttut, T’ut, op (Ch’ol, Yucatec) – Parrot –

K’ota (Yucatec). Mo’ (Itzaj)  – Macaw –

In Maya art, parrots and macaws frequently appear as decorations on bowls, plates, and lids.

They are almost always easy to identify by their beak, the shape of the head, and the feathers.

The feathers of parrots and scarlet macaws (Ara macao), are the trait to attracts most attention, and the resource used by humans.

For most Mesoamerican indigenous groups, the use of richly decorated headdresses was frequent among the nobility, priests, and warriors.

Headdresses were usually made from feathers of colorful birds. They could also have valuable stones, such as jade, sewn to the ornament.

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