Red-capped Cardinal
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| Paroaria gularis (Linnaeus, 1766) |
The Red-capped Cardinal, Paroaria gularis, is a small bird of the family Emberizidae, which also includes the buntings. It breeds from Trinidad, Colombia and Venezuela south to Bolivia and central Brazil. This species is very common in suitable habitat in its South American range, but is scarce and localised on Trinidad.
This is a bird of mangrove swamps and adjacent open wet areas. It makes a shallow cup nest in a mangrove tree, and lays two or three brown-blotched whitish eggs. It is parasitised by cowbirds.
The adult Red-capped Cardinal is 16.5 cm long and weighs 22 g. It has a crimson head and black upperparts, apart from a white partial collar extending up the neck sides from the white underparts. The throat is black, extending to a point on the upper chest. In immature birds, the black and red parts of the adult plumage are replaced by brown, and the underparts are whitish.
The subspecies P. g. nitrogenis from Trinidad, eastern Colombia and northern Venezuela differ from the remaining subspecies (P. g. gularis and P. g. cervicalis) by the black ear-coverts and the red (not black) lower throat and chest. This distinctive taxon possibly is a different species, as suggested by the lack of hybridization with P. g. gularis in the limited area of overlap in southern Venezuela.
The Red-capped Cardinal feeds on insects, rice and fruit. It is usually found in pairs or family groups.
The song is a suweet-chu, and the call is a sharp chep call.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Paroaria gularis. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
[edit] External links
- Red-capped Cardinal videos on the Internet Bird Collection
Categories: Least Concern species | Paroaria | Birds of South America | Birds of Bolivia | Birds of Brazil | Birds of Colombia | Birds of Ecuador | Birds of Peru | Birds of Venezuela | Birds of Guyana | Birds of French Guiana | Birds of Suriname | Land Birds of Trinidad and Tobago | Birds of the Guianas
