Scarlet-rumped Cacique
A species of Typical Caciques, Also known as Small-billed Cacique Scientific name : Cacicus microrhynchus Genus : Typical Caciques
Scarlet-rumped Cacique, A species of Typical Caciques
Also known as:
Small-billed Cacique
Botanical name: Cacicus microrhynchus
Genus: Typical Caciques
Content
Description General Info
Description
The scarlet-rumped cacique is sexually dimorphic like many Icteridae, though it mainly concerns size in this species. Males are 23 cm (9 in) long and weigh 68 g (2.4 oz), while the female is 20 cm (8 in) long and weighs 53 g (1.9 oz); they follow Bergmann's Rule, with the subtropical caciques of the cooler uplands being larger. This cacique is a slim long-winged bird, with a relatively short tail, blue eyes, and a pale yellow pointed bill. It has mainly black plumage, apart from a scarlet patch on the lower back and upper rump. The female is smaller and a duller black than the male, and the juvenile bird has a brownish tone to the plumage and a brownish-orange rump. The song of these birds is a pleasant wheee-whee-whee-whee-wheet, but the Pacific cacique has a descending melancholy wheeo-wheeo-wheeo-wheeo. The calls birds give to members differ between the three groups: those of the subtropical cacique sound rather atypical for icterids and more like the chatter of an excited great thrush (Turdus fuscater). The scarlet-rumped cacique in the narrowest sense has a burry pleeo; the Pacific cacique has a sweeter keeo or a shree.
Size
20 - 23 cm
General Info
Distribution Area
The scarlet-rumped and Pacific caciques are birds associated with humid lowland primary forest or old secondary forest at up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) ASL. The scarlet-rumped cacique is found from Honduras, through Nicaragua and Costa Rica, to Panama (except Darién), while the Pacific cacique is found from eastern Panama (Darién), through western Colombia, to western Ecuador. Subtropical caciques occur at higher altitudes; they have been recorded as high as 2,450 m (8,040 ft) ASL and are found along the eastern slopes of the Andes at altitudes of 1,000–2,300 m (3,300–7,500 ft) in submontane or cloud forest, ranging from Venezuela, through Colombia and Ecuador, to Peru, with an isolated population in the Serranía del Perijá. Their habitat has a lower canopy than that of their lowland relatives, dominated by trees of little more than 15–20 m (49–66 ft) height, for example oaks (Quercus). Epiphytes, hemiepiphytes like Coussapoa (Urticaceae), and a usually dense understory with tree ferns, Ericaceae, etc. are also typical habitat features. These caciques forage through the canopy in small flocks. It feeds on large insects, spiders and small vertebrates, but will also take some fruit. It often forms mixed-species feeding flocks with similarly robust and rowdy songbirds, such as other icterids, black-faced grosbeaks (Caryothraustes poliogaster), or American jays. Such noisy flocks may also attract trogons or flycatchers. Unlike some other caciques they are not usually colonial breeders; like them they have a bag-shaped nest. It is built about 3.5–30 m (11–98 ft) above ground, in a tree which usually also contains an active wasp nest. The bird's nest is 36–64 cm (14–25 in) long, widens at the base, and is suspended from the end of a branch. The normal clutch is two dark-blotched white eggs. The male will assist in feeding the young, but does not incubate. The IUCN conservation status of Least Concern applies for the taxon in the broad sense. Both the scarlet-rumped (in the narrower sense) and the Pacific cacique are widespread and locally common. The subtropical cacique is generally uncommon to rare, but due to its extensive range unlikely to be seriously threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Perching birds Genus
Typical Caciques Species
Scarlet-rumped Cacique