New World blackbirds, troupials and allies | Icteridae

Troepialen | Ictéridos | New World blackbirds, troupials and allies

An exclusively American family that does something different from other songbirds with its bill. The bill is straight, sharp and unhooked, and is used not to pinch things shut but to prise them open: the bird pushes the closed tip into a leaf sheath, a fruit or a crack in the bark and then forces the mandibles apart, exposing the food. In the Andes and along the west coast the family numbers 57 species in 21 genera, from oropendolas and caciques through the orioles (Icterus) to meadowlarks, grackles and cowbirds. In many species the males are boldly patterned in yellow, orange or red against black, while the females stay duller. The oropendolas, such as Crested and Russet-backed Oropendola, nest in colonies and weave long hanging nests at the branch tips of an isolated tree; the orioles weave smaller pouch nests, and other species build a cup in reeds or a bush. Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds; Shiny Cowbird is one of the commonest brood parasites of open country. There are also species with small ranges, such as Red-bellied Grackle in the Colombian Andes and Bolivian Blackbird in the dry valleys of Bolivia, and in the northern winter orioles arrive from North America, while Bobolink passes through the region on its way south.