Description
The Scarlet-rumped Cacique has sexual dimorphism like many Icteridae, though it mainly concerns size in this species. Males are 23 cm (9 in) long and weigh 68 g (2.4 oz), while the female is 20 cm (8 in) long and weighs 53 g (1.9 oz); they follow Bergmann's Rule, with the Subtropical Caciques of the cooler uplands being larger. This cacique is a slim long-winged bird, with a relatively short tail, blue eyes, and a pale yellow pointed bill. It has mainly black plumage, apart from a scarlet patch on the lower back and upper rump. The female is smaller and a duller black than the male, and the juvenile bird has a brownish tone to the plumage and a brownish-orange rump.
The song of these birds is a pleasant wheee-whee-whee-whee-wheet, but the Pacific Cacique has a descending melancholy wheeo-wheeo-wheeo-wheeo. The calls birds give to members differ between the three groups: those of the Subtropical Cacique sound rather atypical for icterids and more like the chatter of an excited Great Thrush (Turdus fuscater). The Scarlet-rumped Cacique in the narrowest sense has a burry pleeo; the Pacific Cacique has a sweeter keeo or a shree.
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