Tordo Amazónico/Velvet-fronted Grackle/Lampropsar tanagrinus

Nombre en español: Tordo Amazónico

Nombre en ingles: Velvet-fronted Grackle

Nombre científico: Lampropsar tanagrinus

Familia: Icteridae

Canto: Peter Boesman

El turpial de frente terciopelo, chango terciopelo, clarinero frentiafelpado o tordo amazónico (Lampropsar tanagrinus) es una especie de ave paseriforme de la familia Icteridae propia de la cuenca del Amazonas y el Orinoco. Es la única especie del género Lampropsar.

Hábitat

Se encuentra en Bolivia, el oeste de Brasil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú y Venezuela.

Vive en la Amazonia, en las áreas inundables y bordes del bosque húmedo y en le bosque de galería.

Descripción

El macho mide entre 21.5 y 23.5 centímetros de longitud y la hembra mide entre 19 y 21 centímetros de longitud. Pesa 55.2 gramos de peso. El pico es corto y puntiagudo. El plumaje es completamente negro con reflejos metálicos azulados. Las plumas de la cabeza tienen una apariencia aterciopelada, son muy cortas, suaves y densas, pero esto es difícil de discernir en el campo. La cola es bastante larga y ligeramente redondeada en su extremo distal. El iris es oscuro. (Ridigely, 1989).
La subespecie macropterus es más grande que las otras subespecies.

Alimentación

Se alimenta de artrópodos y frutos. Generalmente hace parte de bandas de 6 a 30 individuos de su especie, que a veces buscan alimento junto a otras aves en bandas mixtas.

Subespecies

Tiene cinco subespecies :

Lampropsar tanagrinus tanagrinus (Spix, 1824): se produce en la cuenca del Amazonas en el este de Ecuador, el sur de Colombia, el noreste de Perú y el oeste de Brasil, en el estado de Amazonas, desde la orilla oriental del río Negro hasta el río Madeira;
Lampropsar tanagrinus guianensis (Cabanis, 1848): se produce en Venezuela y el noroeste de Guyana, el noreste de Colombia y en el extremo norte de Brasil, en el estado de Roraima;
Lampropsar tanagrinus. macropterus (Gyldenstolpe, 1945): ocurre en el oeste de Brasil, el río Juruá superior en Acre y el oeste de Amazonas;
Lampropsar tanagrinus violaceus (Hellmayr, 1906) – ocurre en el centro oeste de Brasil, en el noroeste del estado de Mato Grosso;
Lampropsar tanagrinus boliviensis (Gyldenstolpe, 1941) – ocurre en el este de Bolivia.

Reproducción

El nido es una canasta tejida, que generalmente se encuentra atrapada debajo de la hoja de una palmera. Tiene en promedio 3 posturas por temporada con 1 o 2 huevos de color blanco crema, teñido de marrón, principalmente en el extremo superior.

Velvet-fronted grackle

The velvet-fronted grackle (Lampropsar tanagrinus) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, monotypic within the genus Lampropsar. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical swamps and heavily degraded former forest.

Description

The male velvet-fronted grackle grows to about 22 cm (9 in) and the female about 19 cm (7.5 in). Both sexes are entirely black, with a slight bluish gloss on the dorsal surfaces. The feathers at the front of the crown are very short and dense, giving a velvet-like appearance at close quarters. The beak is short, conical and pointed, the iris is dark and the tail is long and somewhat rounded. The calls produced include a crackling «chack» and a whistling «cheziit», and the song, sometimes sung at dusk from a perch, is a moderately-musical rapid gurgling sound. This species could be confused with the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis), but their calls and habits are quite different.

Distribution and habitat

The velvet-fronted grackle has two separate populations; one is in Venezuela and Guyana; the other is in southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, northern Peru, western Brazil and northern and central Bolivia. Its typical habitat is várzea forests which periodically become flooded, forest borders and swamps near ponds; rivers and lakes.

Behaviour

This species often congregates with others of its kind in small groups of up to about twenty birds. Sometimes these coalesce with groups of tanagers and caciques. The birds move noisily through the canopy, foraging high and low, and sometimes hopping around on floating vegetation on lakes. The diet includes insects such as winged ants and beetles but is poorly described. In Guyana it breeds in March, in Ecuador in September and in Bolivia in October and February.

Status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has classified L. tanagrinus as being of «least concern». This is on the basis that the bird has a very wide range, the population is believed to be steady, and the bird is fairly common. The total population is estimated to be over 10,000 mature individuals, with a total range of about 2,420,000 km² (934,400 sq mi).

The Velvet-fronted Grackle is the sole member of is genus and it is related to Macroagelaius (Golden-tufted and Mountain grackles) but very distantly to the true grackles in the genus Quiscalus. Along with Macroagelaius, and the Oriole Blackbird (Gymnomystax mexicanus), these species form an old lineage within the blackbird-grackle group of icterids. Velvet-fronted Grackles are all black and shiny showing variable purplish or blue iridescence to the plumage. They are slim and long-tailed with relatively short bills. The feathers on the forehead are indeed short and bristly, giving the bird its name, and the role of these special feathers is not clear. This is a species of humid, often flooded forest, as well as river islands and riparian sites. In Bolivia, copses of threes in flooded savanna are the preferred habitat. The systematics within this species need study, there are five named subspecies. These differ noticeably in size and iridescence color and many are isolated populations. It is likely that the southern Bolivian group (boliviensis) is a distinct species from the rest, and maybe even three species level taxa are involved here. Vocalizations need to be studied as well as they may shed some light into the taxonomic situation.