The brown-headed cowbird is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern United States and Mexico in winter, returning to their summer habitat around March or April.
The hooded oriole is a medium-sized New World oriole. The male of this species ranges in color from a bright orange to a paler yellow, with a black back, face, tail and bib, with the wing containing two white bars. The female is more of an olive color with some yellow accents.
Brood parasitism is a subclass of parasitism and phenomenon and behavioural pattern of animals that rely on others to raise their young. The strategy appears among birds, insects and fish. The brood parasite manipulates a host, either of the same or of another species, to raise its young as if it were its own, usually using egg mimicry, with eggs that resemble the host's. The strategy involves a form of aggressive mimicry called Kirbyan mimicry.
The shiny cowbird is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America except for dense forests and areas of high altitude such as mountains. Since 1900 the shiny cowbird's range has shifted northward, and it was recorded in the Caribbean islands as well as the United States, where it is found breeding in southern Florida. It is a bird associated with open habitats, including disturbed land from agriculture and deforestation.
The white-browed meadowlark is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It was formerly named white-browed blackbird but is not closely related to the red-winged blackbird group.
The bronzed cowbird, once known as the red-eyed cowbird, is a small icterid.
The Montezuma oropendola is a New World tropical icterid bird. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southeastern Mexico to central Panama, but is absent from El Salvador and southern Guatemala. It also occurs on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua and Honduras and northwestern and southwestern Costa Rica. It is among the oropendola species sometimes separated in the genus Gymnostinops. The English and scientific names of this species commemorate the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.
The yellow-shouldered blackbird, known in Puerto Rican Spanish as mariquita de Puerto Rico or capitán, is a species of blackbird endemic to Puerto Rico. It has black plumage with a prominent yellow patch on the wing. Adult males and females are of similar appearance. The species is predominantly insectivorous.
The Puerto Rican vireo is a small bird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico and one of the 31 species belonging to the genus Vireo of the family Vireonidae. Its local name is bien-te-veo, not to be confused with the unrelated great kiskadee - also known as bien-te-veo - which is found elsewhere.
The chalk-browed mockingbird is a bird in the family mimidae. It is found in Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname, and Uruguay.
The violet cuckoo is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae.
The red-bellied grackle is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. Its genus, Hypopyrrhus, is monotypic.
The Martinique oriole is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is endemic to Martinique, French West Indies. Martinique is a part of the Lesser Antilles, and is located in the Eastern Caribbean.
The Saint Lucia oriole is a species of bird, in the family Icteridae and genus Icterus. It is endemic to Saint Lucia.
The black catbird is a songbird species in the monotypic genus Melanoptila, part of the family Mimidae. At 19–20.5 cm (7.5–8.1 in) in length and 31.6–42 g (1.11–1.48 oz) in mass, it is the smallest of the mimids. Sexes appear similar, with glossy black plumage, black legs and bill, and dark brownish eyes. The species is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula, and is found as far south as Campeche, northern Guatemala and northern Belize. Although there are historical records from Honduras and the US state of Texas, the species is not now known to occur in either location. It is found at low elevations in semi-arid to humid habitats ranging from shrubland and abandoned farmland to woodland with thick understory, and is primarily sedentary.
The screaming cowbird is an obligate brood parasite belonging to the family Icteridae and is found in South America. It is also known commonly as the short billed cowbird.
The white-rumped swallow is a species of bird in the family Hirundinidae. First described and given its binomial name by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1817, it was for many years considered a subspecies of the Chilean swallow. The species is monotypic with no known population variations. It has a white supraloral streak, or streak above its lores, which can be used to differentiate it from the Chilean swallow. The lores, ear coverts, tail, and wings are black, with white tips on the inner secondaries, tertials, and greater coverts of the wings. The rest of the upperparts are a glossy blue. Its underparts and underwing-coverts are white, in addition to the rump, as the name suggests. The sexes are similar, and the juvenile is duller and browner with a dusky breast.
The Bahama oriole is a species of songbird in the New World blackbird family Icteridae. It is endemic to the Bahamas, and listed as endangered by the IUCN Red List.
The Puerto Rican oriole, or calandria is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, and genus Icterus or New World blackbirds. This species is a part of a subgroup of orioles that includes the North American orchard oriole, Icterus spurius, and the hooded oriole, Icterus cucullatus.
Anita Studer is a Swiss-born accountant, ornithologist, conservationist and ecologist.
