Icterid
Encyclopedia
The Icterids are a group of small to medium-sized, often colorful passerine
bird
s restricted to the New World
. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange or red. The family is extremely varied in size, shape, behavior and coloration. The name, meaning "jaundice
d ones" (from the prominent yellow feathers of many species) comes from the Ancient Greek
ikteros, through the Latin
ictericus. This group includes the New World blackbird
s, New World orioles, the Bobolink
, meadowlark
s, grackle
s, cowbird
s, oropendola
s and cacique
s.
Despite the similar names, the first groups are only distantly related to the Old World
Blackbird (a thrush
) or the Old World oriole
s.
s and the Long-tailed Meadowlark
. The highest densities of breeding species are found in Colombia
and in southern Mexico
. They inhabit a range of habitats, including scrub, swamp, forest, and savannah. Temperate species are migratory
, with many species that nest in the United States and Canada moving south into Mexico and Central America.
Icterids are variable in size, and often display considerable sexual dimorphism
. For example, the male Great-tailed Grackle
is 60% heavier than the female. The smallest icterid species is the Orchard Oriole
, in which the female averaging 15 cm in length (6 in) and 18 grams (0.6 oz) in weight, while the largest is the Amazonian Oropendola, the male of which measures 52 cm (19 in) and weighs about 550 grams (1.2 lbs). This variation is greater than in any other passerine
family (unless the Kinglet Calyptura
belongs with the cotinga
s, which would then have greater variation). One unusual morphological adaptation shared by the icterids is gaping, where the skull is configured to allow them open their bills
strongly rather than passively, allowing them to force open gaps to obtain otherwise hidden food.
Icterids have adapted to taking a wide range of foods. Oropendolas and caciques use their gaping motion to open the skins of fruit to obtain the soft insides, and have long bills adapted to the process. Others such as cowbirds and the Bobolink
have shorter stubbier bills for crushing seeds. The Jamaican Blackbird
uses its bill to pry amongst tree bark and epiphytes, and has adopted the evolutionary niche
filled elsewhere in the Neotropics by woodcreeper
s. Orioles will drink nectar.
The nesting habits of these birds are similarly variable, including pendulous woven nests in the oropendolas and orioles. Many icterids are colonial
, nesting in colonies of up to 100,000 birds. Some cowbird species engage in brood parasitism
: females lay their eggs in the nests of other species, in a similar fashion to some cuckoo
s.
Some species of icterid have become agricultural pests, for example Red-winged Blackbird
s in the United States are considered the worst vertebrate pest on some crops, such as rice
. The cost of controlling blackbirds in California was $30 per acre in 1994. Not all species have been as successful, and a number of species are threatened with extinction
. These include insular forms such as the Jamaican Blackbird
and the St Lucia Oriole
, which are threatened by habitat loss.
. It is said that as paucares are considered very intelligent, Indians
feed the brains to their children to make them fast learners. As the male plays no part in nesting and care of the young, a man who does not work may be called a "male paucar".
Prehistoric icterid genera that have been described from Pleistocene
fossil
remains are Pandanaris
from Rancho La Brea
and Pyelorhamphus from Shelter Cave
.
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s restricted to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange or red. The family is extremely varied in size, shape, behavior and coloration. The name, meaning "jaundice
Jaundice
Jaundice is a yellowish pigmentation of the skin, the conjunctival membranes over the sclerae , and other mucous membranes caused by hyperbilirubinemia . This hyperbilirubinemia subsequently causes increased levels of bilirubin in the extracellular fluid...
d ones" (from the prominent yellow feathers of many species) comes from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
ikteros, through the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
ictericus. This group includes the New World blackbird
New World blackbird
The New World blackbirds consist of 26 species of icterid birds that share the name blackbird but do not correspond with a formal taxon...
s, New World orioles, the Bobolink
Bobolink
The Bobolink is a small New World blackbird and the only member of genus Dolichonyx.-Description:Adults are 16–18 cm long with short finch-like bills. They weigh about . Adult males are mostly black, although they do display creamy napes, and white scapulars, lower backs and rumps...
, meadowlark
Meadowlark
Meadowlarks are birds belonging to the genus Sturnella in the New World family Icteridae.This genus includes seven species of largely insectivorous grassland birds...
s, grackle
Quiscalus
The avian genus Quiscalus contains six of the ten species of grackle, gregarious passerine birds in the Icterid family. They are native to North and South America...
s, cowbird
Cowbird
Cowbirds are birds belonging to the genus Molothrus in the family Icteridae. They are brood parasitic New World birds which are unrelated to the Old World cuckoos, one of which, the Common Cuckoo, is the best-known brood parasitic bird....
s, oropendola
Oropendola
The oropendolas comprise two or three genera of South and Central American passerine birds in the New World blackbird family.All the oropendolas are large birds with pointed bills, and long tails which are always at least partially bright yellow...
s and cacique
Cacique (bird)
The caciques are passerine birds in the New World blackbird family. Members of the family are resident breeders in tropical South America and north to Mexico. All of the group are in the genus Cacicus, except the aberrant Yellow-billed Cacique , which constitutes a monotypic genus...
s.
Despite the similar names, the first groups are only distantly related to the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
Blackbird (a thrush
Thrush (bird)
The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
) or the Old World oriole
Oriole
Orioles are colourful Old World passerine birds in the genus Oriolus, the namesake of the corvoidean family Oriolidae. They are not related to the New World orioles, which are icterids and, belonging to the superfamily Passeroidea songbirds, are quite unrelated to the true orioles.The orioles are...
s.
Characteristics
The majority of icterid species live in the tropics, although there are a number of temperate forms, such as American blackbirdAgelaius
American blackbirds are birds belonging to the genus Agelaius in the New World family Icteridae.This genus includes 11 species of largely insectivorous grassland birds. The males are typically black with some colorful patches, such as on the shoulders or head...
s and the Long-tailed Meadowlark
Long-tailed Meadowlark
The Long-tailed Meadowlark is a passerine bird of southern South America and the Falkland Islands, belonging to the meadowlark genus Sturnella in the icterid family....
. The highest densities of breeding species are found in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
and in southern Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
. They inhabit a range of habitats, including scrub, swamp, forest, and savannah. Temperate species are migratory
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
, with many species that nest in the United States and Canada moving south into Mexico and Central America.
Icterids are variable in size, and often display considerable sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism
Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
. For example, the male Great-tailed Grackle
Great-tailed Grackle
The Great-tailed Grackle is a medium-sized, gregarious passerine bird native to North and South America. A member of the Icteridae family, it is of the ten extant species of grackle and is closely related to the Red-bellied Grackle and the Velvet-fronted Grackle...
is 60% heavier than the female. The smallest icterid species is the Orchard Oriole
Orchard Oriole
The Orchard Oriole, Icterus spurius, is the smallest North American species of icterid blackbird. The subspecies of the Caribbean coast of Mexico, I. s. fuertesi, is sometimes considered a separate species, the Ochre Oriole....
, in which the female averaging 15 cm in length (6 in) and 18 grams (0.6 oz) in weight, while the largest is the Amazonian Oropendola, the male of which measures 52 cm (19 in) and weighs about 550 grams (1.2 lbs). This variation is greater than in any other passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
family (unless the Kinglet Calyptura
Kinglet Calyptura
The Kinglet Calyptura is a small passerine bird. It is the only member of the genus Calyptura. It has traditionally been considered a member of the family Cotingidae, but following the move of several species from this family to Tityridae - including the purpletufts which traditionally are...
belongs with the cotinga
Cotinga
The cotingas are a large family of passerine bird species found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, which mostly eat fruit or insects and fruit. Comparatively little is known about this diverse group, although all have broad bills with...
s, which would then have greater variation). One unusual morphological adaptation shared by the icterids is gaping, where the skull is configured to allow them open their bills
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
strongly rather than passively, allowing them to force open gaps to obtain otherwise hidden food.
Icterids have adapted to taking a wide range of foods. Oropendolas and caciques use their gaping motion to open the skins of fruit to obtain the soft insides, and have long bills adapted to the process. Others such as cowbirds and the Bobolink
Bobolink
The Bobolink is a small New World blackbird and the only member of genus Dolichonyx.-Description:Adults are 16–18 cm long with short finch-like bills. They weigh about . Adult males are mostly black, although they do display creamy napes, and white scapulars, lower backs and rumps...
have shorter stubbier bills for crushing seeds. The Jamaican Blackbird
Jamaican Blackbird
The Jamaican Blackbird is a species of bird in the New World blackbird and oriole family Icteridae. It is the only species in the genus Nesopsar...
uses its bill to pry amongst tree bark and epiphytes, and has adopted the evolutionary niche
Ecological niche
In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different pod if the members of these pods utilize significantly different food...
filled elsewhere in the Neotropics by woodcreeper
Woodcreeper
The woodcreepers comprise a subfamily of sub-oscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ovenbirds...
s. Orioles will drink nectar.
The nesting habits of these birds are similarly variable, including pendulous woven nests in the oropendolas and orioles. Many icterids are colonial
Bird colony
A bird colony is a large congregation of individuals of one or more species of bird that nest or roost in close proximity at a particular location. Many kinds of birds are known to congregate in groups of varying size; a congregation of nesting birds is called a breeding colony...
, nesting in colonies of up to 100,000 birds. Some cowbird species engage in brood parasitism
Brood parasite
Brood parasites are organisms that use the strategy of brood parasitism, a kind of kleptoparasitism found among birds, fish or insects, involving the manipulation and use of host individuals either of the same or different species to raise the young of the brood-parasite...
: females lay their eggs in the nests of other species, in a similar fashion to some cuckoo
Cuckoo
The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos . Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute...
s.
Some species of icterid have become agricultural pests, for example Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird
The Red-winged Blackbird is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and Guatemala, with isolated populations in western El Salvador, northwestern Honduras, and...
s in the United States are considered the worst vertebrate pest on some crops, such as rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
. The cost of controlling blackbirds in California was $30 per acre in 1994. Not all species have been as successful, and a number of species are threatened with extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. These include insular forms such as the Jamaican Blackbird
Jamaican Blackbird
The Jamaican Blackbird is a species of bird in the New World blackbird and oriole family Icteridae. It is the only species in the genus Nesopsar...
and the St Lucia Oriole
St Lucia Oriole
The St. Lucia Oriole is a species of bird in the Icteridae family. It is endemic to Saint Lucia.Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, and heavily degraded former forest.It is threatened...
, which are threatened by habitat loss.
Folklore
Cacique and oropendola species are called paucar or similar names in PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. It is said that as paucares are considered very intelligent, Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
feed the brains to their children to make them fast learners. As the male plays no part in nesting and care of the young, a man who does not work may be called a "male paucar".
Systematics
FAMILY ICTERIDAE- Genus Dolichonyx – Bobolink
- Genus AgelaiusAgelaiusAmerican blackbirds are birds belonging to the genus Agelaius in the New World family Icteridae.This genus includes 11 species of largely insectivorous grassland birds. The males are typically black with some colorful patches, such as on the shoulders or head...
– Typical American blackbirds (11 species) - Genus Nesopsar – Jamaican Blackbird
- Genus Sturnella – meadowlarks (7 species)
- Genus Xanthocephalus – Yellow-headed Blackbird
- Genus DivesDives (bird)Dives is a genus of Neotropical birds in the family Icteridae. It contains three species:* Cuban Blackbird, Dives atroviolacea* Melodious Blackbird, Dives dives* Scrub Blackbird, Dives warszewiczi...
(3 species) - Genus EuphagusEuphagusEuphagus is a small genus of New World blackbirds. It contains two North American species, the Brewer's Blackbird, Euphagus cyanocephalus, and the Rusty Blackbird E. carolinus...
(2 species) - Genus QuiscalusQuiscalusThe avian genus Quiscalus contains six of the ten species of grackle, gregarious passerine birds in the Icterid family. They are native to North and South America...
– true grackles (5 living species, 1 recently extinct) - Genus Agelaioides – Bay-winged Cowbird (formerly in Molothrus)
- Genus Molothrus – true cowbirds (5 species, includes Scaphidura)
- Genus Icterus – New World orioles (25-30 species)
- Genus Amblycercus – Yellow-billed Cacique
- Genus Ocyalus – Band-tailed Oropendola (might include Clypicterus)
- Genus Clypicterus – Casqued Oropendola
- Genus Cacicus – true caciques (about 10 species)
- Genus Psarocolius – true oropendolas (about 10 species, includes Gymnostinops)
- Genus Gymnomystax – Oriole Blackbird
- Genus PseudoleistesPseudoleistesThe marshbirds, Pseudoleistes, are a small genus of icterid birds . It includes the following species:* Yellow-rumped Marshbird, Pseudoleistes guirahuro* Brown-and-yellow Marshbird, Pseudoleistes virescens...
– marshbirds (2 species) - Genus Amblyramphus – Scarlet-headed Blackbird
- Genus Hypopyrrhus – Red-bellied Grackle
- Genus CuraeusCuraeusCuraeus is a genus of bird in the Icteridae family.It contains the following species:* Austral Blackbird * Forbes's Blackbird...
(2 species) - Genus Gnorimopsar – Chopi Blackbird
- Genus Oreopsar – Bolivian Blackbird
- Genus Lampropsar – Velvet-fronted Grackle
- Genus MacroagelaiusMacroagelaiusMacroagelaius is a genus of bird in the Icteridae family.It contains the following species:* Golden-tufted Grackle * Mountain Grackle...
(2 species)
Prehistoric icterid genera that have been described from Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
remains are Pandanaris
Pandanaris
Pandanaris convexa is an extinct cowbird genus described in 1947 by Alden H. Miller.-Physiology:The Pandanaris convexa has an upper mandible similar to that of the Tangavius and Molothrus cowbird genii , though its narial opening is approximately 30% larger...
from Rancho La Brea
Rancho La Brea
Rancho La Brea was a Mexican land grant in present day Los Angeles County, California given in 1828 to Antonio Jose Rocha and Nemisio Dominguez by José Antonio Carrillo, the Alcalde of Los Angeles. Rancho La Brea consisted of one square league of land of what is now Wilshire's Miracle Mile, ...
and Pyelorhamphus from Shelter Cave
Shelter Cave
Shelter Cave is an archaeological and paleontological site located in Doña Ana County, New Mexico.-Description:The site is a rock shelter well up on the western side of Bishop's Cap, an outlier of the Organ Mountains. It lies about 450 ft below the summit according to Brattstrom ; this would...
.
External links
- Icterid videos, photos and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection
- Icteridae at the Tree of Life Web Project