The chestnut-capped blackbird (''Chrysomus ruficapillus'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Icteridae Icterids () or New World blackbirds make up a family, the Icteridae (), of small to medium-sized, often colorful, New World passerine birds. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange, or red. The ...

. It is found in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, where its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s are

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s, ricefields and pastureland. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

rates its conservation status as "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

Description

The chestnut-capped blackbird is sexually dimorphic. It has a straight dark-coloured beak with a sharp tip, and dark legs. The male has a chestnut-coloured head and throat but is otherwise glossy black; birds in the southern part of the range have darker heads than those in the north. The upper parts of the female are a dark olive-brown, slightly streaked with black, and the underparts are paler olive-brown; the streaking on the back of this species is less distinct than in other birds in this genus. The voice consists of various trills and whistles, the song being a lengthy "chree-chree-churrr".

Distribution

The chestnut-capped blackbird is found in the tropical and semi-tropical eastern part of South America at altitudes of up to . Its range covers much of the Amazon Basin and extends from northern Brazil to northern Argentina. It is found in the vicinity of water, in marshes, in nearby grassland and in rice fields.Cirne, M.P. & López-Iborra, G.M. (2005) Breeding biology of Chestnut-capped Blackbirds in rice paddies in southern Brazil. ''Journal of Field Ornithology'' 76(4), 411-416.

Status

The population of the chestnut-capped blackbird has not been quantified but appears to be stable. The bird has an extremely wide range and is reported as being common, and the

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1588436 chestnut-capped blackbird Birds of South America Birds of the Pantanal Birds of Brazil chestnut-capped blackbird Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot Taxonomy articles created by Polbot