| Melodious blackbird | |
|---|---|
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| In Belize | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Icteridae |
| Genus: | Dives |
| Species: | D. dives |
| Binomial name | |
| Dives dives (Deppe, 1830) | |
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| Range of D. dives | |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2017) |
The melodious blackbird (Dives dives) is a New World tropical bird.
The adult is a medium-sized blackbird with a rounded tail. The male is 25.5 cm (10.0 in) long and weighs 108 g (3.8 oz). The slightly smaller female is 23 cm (9.1 in) long and weighs 95 g (3.4 oz). The adult plumage is entirely black with a bluish gloss, and the bill, legs and feet are also black. The iris is brown. Females are identically plumaged to the males; young birds are brownish black and lack iridescence. There are no subspecies.
The song is a duet between pairs, with a see note, followed by a whit and a northern cardinal-like whistle. The call is a metallic puitt.
D. dives is a resident breeder from coastal eastern and south-eastern Mexico to Costa Rica. Its range is expanding. El Salvador was colonized in the 1950s, and eastern Guatemala in the 1960s. Prior to 1989 there was only one Costa Rican record, but it is now easily seen at least as far south as San José, and it is expected to colonize Panama.
The melodious blackbird inhabits a wide range of habitats, but avoids dense forest and thick undergrowth. It has adapted to human habitation and can be seen in gardens and on lawns. The melodious blackbird forages mainly on the ground for insects but will also take nectar and ripening maize ears as well as other plants, such as the fruits of the gumbo-limbo (Bursera simaruba) and Trophis racemosa . [2]
Breeding birds are highly territorial, and adults will attack predators like the brown jay, but small flocks form outside the nesting season. A breeding pair will give a display in which each bird spreads its tail, extends its wings, and ruffles its plumage.
Both sexes build a cup nest of plant material 3–7 m (9.8–23.0 ft) high in a bush or tree and line it with mud and dung. The female lays three or four brown-blotched blue eggs, which she incubates alone, although the male helps with feeding the chicks. This species is not known to be parasitised by cowbirds, which presumably has also contributed to its success.
This species has benefited from deforestation, which has allowed its rapid range expansion through the creation of suitable habitat.
The orchard oriole is the smallest species of icterid. The subspecies of the Caribbean coast of Mexico, I. s. fuertesi, is sometimes considered a separate species, the ochre oriole or Fuertes's oriole.
The tricolored heron, formerly known as the Louisiana heron, is a small species of heron native to coastal parts of the Americas. The species is more solitary than other species of heron in the Americas and eats a diet consisting mostly of small fish.
The great-tailed grackle or Mexican grackle is a medium-sized, highly social passerine bird native to North and South America. A member of the family Icteridae, it is one of 10 extant species of grackle and is closely related to the boat-tailed grackle and the extinct slender-billed grackle. In the southern and southwestern United States, the grackle is sometimes referred to simply as a "blackbird" or (erroneously) a "crow" due to its glossy black plumage; however, grackles form their own unique genus that is separate from other "blackbirds", such as the red-winged and Brewer's blackbirds, despite being in the same family (Icteridae). Superficially, Brewer's blackbird is one of the most visually similar species to grackles.
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The bronzed cowbird, once known as the red-eyed cowbird, is a small icterid.
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The volcano hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in tribe Mellisugini of subfamily Trochilinae, the "bee hummingbirds". It is found in Costa Rica and Panama. This hummingbird is the one that appears on the 20 thousand colones bill from Costa Rica.
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The long-tailed silky-flycatcher is a passerine bird that occurs only in the mountains of Costa Rica and western Panama, usually from 1,850 m altitude to the timberline. It is a thrush-sized species, weighing about 37 g. The silky-flycatchers are related to waxwings, and like that group, they have soft silky plumage.
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The golden-hooded tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder from southern Mexico south to western Ecuador.
The silver-throated tanager is a species of passerine bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and northeastern Peru. It inhabits mossy forests, montane evergreen forests, tropical lowland evergreen forests and forest edges, along with tall secondary forests and disturbed habitat with remnant trees and forest. It is 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long and weighs 22 grams (0.78 oz) on average, and shows slight sexual dimorphism, with duller female plumage. Adult males are mainly bright yellow, with a silvery-white throat bordered above with a black stripe on the cheeks, black streaking on the back, and green edges to the wings and tail. Juveniles are duller and greener.
Cherrie's tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica and western Panama. This bird was formerly known as the scarlet-rumped tanager, but was split as a separate species from the Caribbean form, which was itself renamed as Passerini's tanager, Ramphocelus passerinii. While most authorities had accepted this split, there were notable exceptions. It was lumped back into the Scarlet-rumped Tanager in 2018.
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The orange-collared manakin is a passerine bird in the manakin family. It is an endemic resident breeder in Costa Rica and western Panama, where it is found in forests, secondary growth and plantations. It is a small, plump bird about 10 centimetres (4 in) long. Males have a black crown, mid back, wings and tail and an olive-green rump. The rest of the head, neck, breast and upper back are orange, and the belly is yellow. Females are olive-green with yellow underparts and resemble female white-collared manakins. At breeding time, males are involved in lekking behaviour on the forest floor. This is a fairly common species with a somewhat restricted range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The white-ruffed manakin is a sub-oscine (Tyranni), passerine bird in the manakin family. It is a resident breeder in the tropical New World from eastern Honduras to northwestern Colombia. Its typical habitat is wet forest, adjacent clearings and tall secondary growth. It is a small, plump bird about 10 centimetres (4 in) long. Males have glossy blue-black plumage with a white erectile ruff on the throat and females are green. At breeding time, males are involved in lekking behaviour on the forest floor during which they puff out their neck feathers. This is a fairly common species with a wide range.
The spot-breasted oriole is a species of bird in the family Icteridae.
The black-throated wren is a species of bird in the family Troglodytidae. It is found in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama.
