Macaws are known to have been transported between the Caribbean islands and from mainland South America both in historic times by Europeans and natives, and prehistoric times by Paleoamericans.
Parrots were important in the culture of native Caribbeans, were traded between islands, and were among the gifts offered to Christopher Columbus when he reached the Bahamas in 1492.
It is therefore difficult to determine whether the numerous historical records of macaws on these islands refer to distinct, endemic species, since they could have been based on escaped individuals or feral populations of foreign macaws of known species that had been transported there.
As many as thirteen extinct macaws have been suggested to have lived on the islands until recently.
Only three endemic Caribbean macaw species are known from physical remains; the Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor) is known from nineteen museum skins and subfossils, the Saint Croix macaw (Ara autochthones) is only known from subfossils, and the Lesser Antillean macaw is known from subfossils and reports.
No endemic Caribbean macaws remain today; they were likely driven to extinction by humans in historic and prehistoric times.

Many hypothetical extinct macaws were based only on contemporaneous accounts, but these species are considered dubious today.
Several of them were named in the early 20th century by Rothschild, who had a tendency to name species based on little tangible evidence.
Among others, the red-headed macaw (Ara erythrocephala) and the Jamaican red macaw (Ara gossei) were named for accounts of macaws on Jamaica, and the Dominican green-and-yellow macaw (Ara atwoodi) was supposedly from Dominica island.
The violet macaw (Anodorhynchus purpurascens), which was named for accounts of blue parrots supposedly from Guadeloupe, is now thought to have been based on references to the Guadeloupe amazon (Amazona violacea).

Other species of macaw have also been mentioned, but many never received binomials, or are considered junior synonyms of other species.
Williams and Steadman defended the validity of most named Caribbean macaw species, and wrote that each Greater and Lesser Antillean island probably had its own endemic species.
The ornithologists Storrs Olson and Edgar Maíz López doubted the validity of the hypothetical macaws in 2008, and that all Antillean islands once had endemic species, but wrote that the island of Hispaniola would be the most likely place for another macaw species to have existed because of the large land area, though no descriptions or remains of such are known.
They wrote that such a species could have been driven to extinction before the arrival of Europeans.
The identity and distribution of indigenous macaws in the Caribbean is only likely to be further resolved through palaeontological discoveries and examination of contemporary reports and artwork.
Macaws are known to have been transported between the Caribbean islands and from mainland South America both in historic times by Europeans and natives, and prehistoric times by Paleoamericans. Parrots were important in the culture of native Caribbeans, were traded between islands, and were among the gifts offered to Christopher Columbus when he reached the Bahamas in 1492. It is therefore difficult to determine whether the numerous historical records of macaws on these islands refer to distinct, endemic species, since they could have been based on escaped individuals or feral populations of foreign macaws of known species that had been transported there. As many as thirteen extinct macaws have been suggested to have lived on the islands until recently. Only three endemic Caribbean macaw species are known from physical remains; the Cuban macaw (Ara tricolor) is known from nineteen museum skins and subfossils, the Saint Croix macaw (Ara autochthones) is only known from subfossils, and the Lesser Antillean macaw is known from subfossils and reports. No endemic Caribbean macaws remain today; they were likely driven to extinction by humans in historic and prehistoric times.
Many hypothetical extinct macaws were based only on contemporaneous accounts, but these species are considered dubious today. Several of them were named in the early 20th century by Rothschild, who had a tendency to name species based on little tangible evidence. Among others, the red-headed macaw (Ara erythrocephala) and the Jamaican red macaw (Ara gossei) were named for accounts of macaws on Jamaica, and the Dominican green-and-yellow macaw (Ara atwoodi) was supposedly from Dominica island. The violet macaw (Anodorhynchus purpurascens), which was named for accounts of blue parrots supposedly from Guadeloupe, is now thought to have been based on references to the Guadeloupe amazon (Amazona violacea).
Other species of macaw have also been mentioned, but many never received binomials, or are considered junior synonyms of other species. Williams and Steadman defended the validity of most named Caribbean macaw species, and wrote that each Greater and Lesser Antillean island probably had its own endemic species. The ornithologists Storrs Olson and Edgar Maíz López doubted the validity of the hypothetical macaws in 2008, and that all Antillean islands once had endemic species, but wrote that the island of Hispaniola would be the most likely place for another macaw species to have existed because of the large land area, though no descriptions or remains of such are known. They wrote that such a species could have been driven to extinction before the arrival of Europeans. The identity and distribution of indigenous macaws in the Caribbean is only likely to be further resolved through palaeontological discoveries and examination of contemporary reports and artwork.
Martinique macaw