Orange-backed Troupial
Icterus croconotus
Big orange-and-black oriole with bare skin around the eye. Bright orange with black tail, wings, and face, light yellow eyes, and a white wing patch. Sexes similar. Distinctive in the Amazon basin, where it is the only large orange-and-black oriole. Found in secondary growth, forest edges, and suburban areas, often near water. Listen for its song, a slow series of whistles.
Identification
The orange-backed troupial grows to a length of about 23 cm (9 in). In colour it is bright orange apart from a black face, bib, wings and tail, and a small white patch on the secondary wing feathers. It has an orange streak on its shoulder and a small blue ring of bare skin surrounds the eye. The bib has a neat lower edge which helps to distinguish it from the Venezuelan troupial, which has a shaggy base to the bib and a much larger white streak on the wing. The song consists of a number of loud, musical phrases, mostly with two syllables.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Icterus croconotus
- Authority
- (Wagler, 1829)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Icteridae
- Genus
- Icterus
Range and habitat
The orange-backed troupial is found in tropical South America east of the Andes where it is a non-migratory species. Its range extends from southern Guyana, southern Colombia and eastern Ecuador and Peru, through eastern and central Brazil to Bolivia and northern Paraguay. It inhabits forest edges, clearings, riparian woodland, secondary forest, and scrubby woodland at altitudes up to about 750 m (2,500 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The orange-backed troupial often forages in pairs, feeding on fruits, insects and other arthropods found at all levels in the canopy. It also sips nectar from wild flowers, including Erythrina. It breeds in July and August in Colombia, and between November and March in Bolivia and Paraguay. It tends not to build its own nest but often pirates the nest of a yellow-rumped cacique (Cacicus cela).
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Neblina Tapaculo
Scytalopus altirostris
Small tapaculo found only at very high elevations in the eastern Andes of Peru. Male is gray with black and brown barring on lower underparts and rump. Female is browner with more extensive barring. Similar to several other tapaculos, and best identified by range, habitat, and voice. Inhabits scrubby treeline woodland and adjacent grasslands. Song is a long, leisurely series of chips.
Gabela Akalat
Sheppardia gabela
A rather small, demure understory denizen resembling a cross between a robin and a flycatcher. Mostly dull brownish-olive with a rusty rump and a paler throat and belly. Juvenile is more mottled. A local and endangered bird found singly and in pairs in thick undergrowth of primary and secondary forest, thickets, and coffee plantations, resident in a narrow range along the Angolan escarpment between 810 and 1300 meters of elevation. Sits for long periods, sallying to catch insect prey. Calls include a soft series of descending whistles. May be mistaken for a flycatcher, but its furtive nature and preference for thick understory are unique within its range.
South Moluccan Pitta
Erythropitta rubrinucha
An unmistakable plump, short-tailed, long-legged forest bird with a red belly. A spectacular species displaying a broad iridescent blue chest band, a dark purplish-glossed head with blue cheek markings, a reddish nape, and moss-green upperparts. Found in forested lowlands and foothills and within bamboo thickets. Usually seen singly, most often either foraging on the forest floor or calling from low understory branches. Confined to the islands of Buru and Seram. Gives a distinctive soft, quivering two-part whistle: “waaaaaaaoop-aaaaaaww.” First part ascends, and the second is a mournful, descending whistle.
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