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Region: South America Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Icteridae Genus: Amblyramphus Scientific Name: Amblyramphus holosericeus
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Description:
The Scarlet-Headed Blackbird measures 24 cm and has a long, slender very sharply pointed bill. They use their bill as a hammer like a woodpecker to open up vegetable matter to get at the edible part. The plumage is mostly black with a brilliant orange-red hood. The thighs are also orange-red. Juveniles generally start out all black but soon acquire some orange-red on the throat and breast, which gradually brightens and intrudes onto the head and neck.
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Distribution:
South Brazil, Paraguay (except in the far northwest), northeast Argentina and an isolated population in north Bolivia.
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Habitat:
They are common in extensive local reed beds in marshes and are only rarely found outside them.
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Food:
They are mainly frugivorous but supplement their diet with seeds, insects and other invertebrates. They are diurnal; feeding during the day light hours.
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Reproduction and Development:
Since they live in pairs, they are socially monogamous and breed in grouped territories. They build an open cup nest woven into supporting vegetation or in the crotch of a shrub. There are generally 2 eggs; the fledglings depend on the parents until they leave the nest.
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Adaptations:
They are often seen perching precariously on top of a reed or rush stem, frequently in the middle of the marsh. Its song is loud and clear, a melodic ringing “cleer-cleer-clur, clulululu” They are readily seen in the coastal areas of Brazil and Argentina. The number of birds in Paraguay seems somewhat smaller.
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Threats to Survival:
At present, the Scarlet-Headed Blackbird is quite common and is not under any particular threat. However, since its habitat is primarily wetlands, any future developments in these areas will sharply reduce its numbers.
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Status:
Common
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Zoo Diet:
Psittacine soft diet, mixed fruit including bananas, hard boiled egg, mealworms, large crickets, universal extra insectivore mix, carnivore meat diet, oyster shell/insoluble grit, exotic bird vitamin/mineral supply, vitamin E and soft bill gelatin diet.
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Animal Fact Sheet
The New Tundra Trek