Yellow-rumped Cacique - Cacicus cela

Length 11.4 in (29.0 cm)
Weight M: 3.4 oz (96.5 g), F: 2.2-2.6 oz (62-74 g)
Clutch Size 2
Chicks at birth Altricial
IUCN Conservation Status Least Concern
Continents:SA
     

The Yellow-rumped Cacique is found in northern South America. There are three subspecies of this bird.

The male is mostly black with a yellow rump, tail base, lower belly and wing 'epaulets'. The eyes are blue and the bill is pointed and a pale yellow. The female is similar but duller. Juveniles resemble the female but the eyes are dark and the bill base is brown. They are found in large noisy flocks.

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Diet: Their diet consists of large insects and fruit.

Courtship:

Nesting: Yellow-rumped Caciques are considered colonial nesters and up to 100 nests will be located in a tree. The females build the bag-shaped nests which are suspended from the end of a branch and are usually built close to a wasp nests. (The wasps may help protect the fledglings from mites which can kill the fledglings.) The female usually lays two dark-blotched pale blue or white eggs and does all the incubation and feeding of the hatchlings.

Habitat and Range:

Vocalization: The Yellow-rumped Cacique males produce songs which are a mixture of fluting notes with cackles, wheezes and in the eastern range mimicry. The colony will also produce varied calls which can be heard from a considerable distance.

Plumage/Molt: Probably molt annually.

Migration: Not migratory.

Tongue/feet:

Bibliography:

  • http://en.wikipedia.org The Free Encyclopedia, Accessed June, 2013
  • Ridgely, Roberts S. and Tudor, Guy, Field Guide to the Songbirds of South America: The Passerines,University of Texas Press, 2009

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