Yellow-rumped cacique

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Yellow-rumped cacique
Yellow-rumped Cacique - Pantanal - Brazil H8O2199 (23593614830).jpg
in Brazil
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Icteridae
Genus: Cacicus
Species:
C. cela
Binomial name
Cacicus cela
Cacicus cela map.svg
Global range (green)
Synonyms
  • Parus celaLinnaeus, 1758
  • Oriolus persicusLinnaeus, 1766
Yellow-rumped Cacique - Rio Negro River, Brazil.jpg

The yellow-rumped cacique (Cacicus cela) is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in much of northern South America from Panama and Trinidad south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil. However, they have been sighted as far north as Nayarit state in Mexico.

Contents

Taxonomy

The yellow-rumped cacique was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Parus cela. [2] Why Linnaeus picked this specific epithet is uncertain but it may be shorthand for the Ancient Greek kelainos meaning "black". [3] Linnaeus mistakenly specified the Habitat as in Indiis (India). The type location was designated as Suriname by the Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr in 1906. [4] [5] The yellow-rumped cacique is now placed in the genus Cacique that was introduced by the Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799. [6] [7]

Three subspecies are recognised: [7]

The first two subspecies may be a separate species, the saffron-rumped cacique. [8]

Description

The male is on average 28 centimetres (11 in) long and weighs about 104 grams (3.7 oz), with the female 23 centimetres (9.1 in) long and weighing approximately 60 grams (2.1 oz). The yellow-rumped cacique is a slim bird, with a long tail, blue eyes, and a pale yellow pointed bill. It has mainly black plumage, apart from a bright yellow rump, tail base, lower belly and wing "epaulets". The female is duller black than the male, and the juvenile bird resembles the female, but has dark eyes and a brown bill base.

The song of the male yellow-rumped cacique is a brilliant mixture of fluting notes with cackles, wheezes and sometimes mimicry. There are also many varied calls, and an active colony can be heard from a considerable distance. [8]

Distribution and habitat

The yellow vent Cacicus cela (1).JPG
The yellow vent

The yellow-rumped cacique is a bird associated with open woodland or cultivation with large trees.

Behaviour and ecology

Nesting in Peru Cacicus cela -Peru -nest-8.jpg
Nesting in Peru
Yellow-rumped cacique nest Cacicus cela (2).JPG
Yellow-rumped cacique nest

This gregarious bird eats large insects (such as beetles, caterpillars, crickets, grasshoppers and katydids), [9] [10] spiders [9] (such as orb-weavers), [10] nectar [9] [10] and fruit (such as chupa-chupa and figs). [10]

Breeding

It is a colonial breeder, with up to 100 bag-shaped nests in a tree, which usually also contains an active wasp nest. The females build the nests, incubate, and care for the young. Each nest is 30–45 cm long and widens at the base, and is suspended from the end of a branch. Females compete for the best sites near the protection of the wasp nest. The normal clutch is two dark-blotched pale blue or white eggs. Females begin incubating after laying the second egg; hatching occurs after 13 or 14 days. The young fledge in 34 to 40 days, usually only one per nest.

Relationship with humans

The yellow-rumped cacique has benefited from the more open habitat created by forest clearance and ranching. It is not considered threatened by the IUCN. [11]

In Peruvian folklore, this species – like other caciques and oropendolas – is called paucar, or – referring to this species only – paucarcillo ("little paucar"). This species is apparently the paucar that, according to a folktale of Moyobamba, originated as a rumor-mongering boy who always wore black pants and a yellow jacket. When he spread an accusation against an old woman who was a fairy in disguise, she turned him into a noisy, wandering bird. The bird's appearance is thought to augur good news. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icterid</span> Family of birds, often black with yellow, orange, or red markings

Icterids or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae, of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. The family contains 108 species and is divided into 30 genera. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The species in the family vary widely in size, shape, behavior, and coloration. The name, meaning "jaundiced ones" comes from the Ancient Greek ikteros via the Latin ictericus. This group includes the New World blackbirds, New World orioles, the bobolink, meadowlarks, grackles, cowbirds, oropendolas, and caciques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern meadowlark</span> Species of bird

The eastern meadowlark is a medium-sized blackbird, very similar in appearance to sister species western meadowlark. It occurs from eastern North America to northern South America, where it is also most widespread in the east. The Chihuahuan meadowlark was formerly considered to be conspecific with the eastern meadowlark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-fan parrot</span> Species of bird

The red-fan parrot, also known as the hawk-headed parrot, is a New World parrot hailing from the Amazon Rainforest. It is the only member of the genus Deroptyus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crested oropendola</span> Species of bird

The crested oropendola, also known as the Suriname crested oropendola or the cornbird, is a New World tropical icterid bird. It is a resident breeder in lowland South America east of the Andes, from Panama and Colombia south to northern Argentina, as well as on Trinidad and Tobago. If the genus Gymnostinax for the Montezuma oropendola and its closest relatives were considered valid, this species would probably belong in that genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green honeycreeper</span> Species of bird

The green honeycreeper is a small bird in the tanager family. It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Brazil, and on Trinidad. It is the only member of the genus Chlorophanes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purple honeycreeper</span> Species of bird

The purple honeycreeper is a small Neotropical bird in the tanager family Thraupidae. It is found in the tropical New World from Colombia and Venezuela south to Brazil, and on Trinidad. A few, possibly introduced birds have been recorded on Tobago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lineated woodpecker</span> Species of bird

The lineated woodpecker is a very large woodpecker which is a resident breeding bird from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Trinidad in the Caribbean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay-headed tanager</span> Species of bird

The bay-headed tanager is a medium-sized passerine bird. This tanager is a resident breeder in Costa Rica, Panama, South America south to Ecuador, Bolivia and north-western Brazil, and on Trinidad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant cowbird</span> Species of bird

The giant cowbird is a large passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds from southern Mexico south to northern Argentina, and on Trinidad and Tobago. It may have relatively recently colonised the latter island. It is a brood parasite and lays its eggs in the nests of other birds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green-rumped parrotlet</span> Species of bird

The green-rumped parrotlet, also known as the green-rumped parakeet, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae that is found in northeastern South America and the Caribbean island of Trinidad. The green-rumped parrotlet occurs from northern Venezuela eastwards to the lower Amazon in Brazil, Also Suriname and has been introduced to Curaçao, Jamaica and Barbados. It prefers semi-open lowland areas and is also sometimes present in city parks. There are five subspecies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short-tailed swift</span> Species of bird

The short-tailed swift is a bird in the Apodidae, or swift family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow-chinned spinetail</span> Species of bird

The yellow-chinned spinetail is a passerine bird found in the tropical New World from Trinidad and Colombia south to Argentina and Uruguay. It is a member of the South American ovenbird family Furnariidae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cacique (bird)</span> Passerine birds in the New World blackbird family

The caciques are passerine birds in the New World blackbird family which are resident breeders in tropical South America north to Mexico. All of the group are in currently placed in the genus Cacicus, except the aberrant yellow-billed cacique, and the Mexican cacique which constitute respective monotypic genera. Judging from mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 sequence, the aberrant oropendolas band-tailed oropendola and casqued oropendola, Psarocolius oseryi seem to be closer to the caciques.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chestnut-headed oropendola</span> Species of bird

The chestnut-headed oropendola is a New World tropical icterid bird. The scientific name of the species commemorates Johann Georg Wagler, who established Psarocolius, the oropendola genus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subtropical cacique</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bright-rumped attila</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-fronted nunbird</span> Species of bird

The white-fronted nunbird is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-billed parrot</span> Species of bird

The red-billed parrot, also known as coral-billed pionus or red-billed pionus, is a species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-rumped cacique</span> Species of bird

The red-rumped cacique is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. It is a species of the Amazon Basin and the Guyanas in northern South America, and is only coastal there in the Guyanas and the Amazon River outlet to the Atlantic; a separate large disjunct range exists in all of south-eastern and coastal Brazil, including Paraguay, and parts of north-eastern Argentina. It is also found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Opal-rumped tanager</span> Species of bird

The opal-rumped tanager is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. It is found in the Amazon and Atlantic Forest of South America. The population of the Atlantic Forest has a far paler chest than the other populations, and has often been considered a separate species as the silvery-breasted tanager. Today most authorities treat it as a subspecies of the opal-rumped tanager.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2020). "Cacicus cela". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2020: e.T103792683A138350097. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T103792683A138350097.en . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 191.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 96. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Hellmayr, Carl Eduard (1906). "On the birds of the island of Trinidad". Novitates Zoologicae. 13: 1–60 [20].
  5. Paynter, Raymond A. Jr, ed. (1968). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 14. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 145.
  6. Lacépède, Bernard Germain de (1799). "Tableau des sous-classes, divisions, sous-division, ordres et genres des oiseux". Discours d'ouverture et de clôture du cours d'histoire naturelle (in French). Paris: Plassan. p. 6. Page numbering starts at one for each of the three sections.
  7. 1 2 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (2020). "Oropendolas, orioles, blackbirds". IOC World Bird List Version 10.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  8. 1 2 Jaramillo & Burke (1999)
  9. 1 2 3 "Cacicus cela (Yellow-rumped Cacique)" (PDF). Sta.uwi.edu. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Cacicus cela (Yellow-rumped cacique)". Animaldiversity.org. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  11. BLI (2008)
  12. moyobamba.com (2007), Enjoy Peru [2008]

Sources

Further reading