Oropéndola Cabecicastaña/Chestnut-headed Oropendola/Psarocolius wagleri

Nombre en español: Oropéndola Cabecicastaña

Nombre en inglés: Chestnut-headed Oropendola

Nombre científico: Psarocolius wagleri

Familia: Icteridae

Canto: Peter Boesman

La oropéndola cabecicastaña o cacique cabecicastaño (Psarocolius wagleri) es una especie de ave paseriforme de la familia Icteridae propia de América Central y el extremo noroccidental de América del Sur. Se encuentra en Belice, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, el sur de México, Nicaragua y Panamá.

Hábitat

Vive en el dosel y los bordes del bosque, plantaciones maduras y claros con árboles altos, hasta los 1.200 m de altitud y en época de cría, hasta los 1.700 msnm.

Descripción

El macho mide 35 cm de longitud y pesa 225 g; la hembra mide 28 cm y pesa 125 g. El plumaje del macho es principalmente negro con la cabeza y el cuello color castaño; la grupa y las coberteras caudales castaño oscuro; la cola es de color amarillo brillante con excepción de las dos plumas centrales que son oscuras. El iris is azul, el pico blancuzco y las patas negras. El plumaje de la hembra es más opaco y presenta el vientre castaño oscuro.

Su llamado es un fuerte chek y chuk. El canto del macho incluye un gorgoteo seguido por un estrepitoso guu-guu-PHRRRRTTT.

Alimentación

Busca alimento en pequeñas bandas. Se alimenta en las copa de los árboles, de insectos grandes, frutas y bayas. También consume néctar de flores grandes y caza ranas y lagartijas.

Reproducción

Construye un nido en forma de bolsa colgante, tejido con material vegetal, de 60 a 100 cm de largo, en lo alto de un árbol. Forman colonias de 12 a 50 nidos. En una colonia puede haber hasta 40 o 50 hembras y sólo 4 o 5 machos. La hembra pone dos huevos oscuro de color azul claro con manchas oscuras, que eclosionan a los 17 días. Los pichones abandonan el nido 30 días después.

Chestnut-headed oropendola

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

Description

The male is 35 cm (14 in) long and weighs 225 g (7.9 oz); the smaller female is 28 cm (11 in) long and weighs 125 g (4.4 oz). The wings are very long. Adult males are mainly black with a chestnut head and rump and a tail which is bright yellow apart from two dark central feathers. The iris is blue and the long bill is whitish. Females are similar, but smaller and duller than males. Young birds are duller than adults and have brown eyes. The populations south of an area around the border of Honduras and Nicaragua are sometimes separated as a subspecies P. w. ridgwayi, but the separation of this form has been questioned.

The distinctive songs of the male include a gurgle followed by a crash guu-guu-PHRRRRTTT. Both sexes have loud chek and chuk calls.

It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southern Mexico to central Costa Rica, both slopes of southern Costa Rica and Panama, and the Pacific lowlands of Colombia and north-eastern Ecuador. Though it usually stays below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) ASL, it has also been recorded as much as 1,300 m (4,300 ft) ASL, for example in the Serranía de las Quinchas of Colombia. It may in fact be more common at such high altitudes at particular times or in particular places, but its altitudinal movements are insufficiently understood. The species is common across its large range and not considered threatened by the IUCN.

Range and ecology

The chestnut-headed oropendola inhabits forest canopy, edges and old plantations. It is a quite common bird in parts of its range, seen in small flocks foraging in trees for large insects, fruit and berries.

It is a colonial breeder which builds a hanging woven nest of fibres and vines, 60–100 cm (24–39 in) long, high in a tree. There may be 40–50 females and only 4–5 males in a colony. The female lays two dark-marked pale blue eggs which hatch in 17 days and fledge in 30. Botflies (Oestridae) are the main cause of nestling mortality, but brood parasitism by giant cowbirds (Molothrus oryzivorus) also occurs, and the young cowbirds will feed on the fly larvae.