A black bird with a lot of yellow near its tail. The females
of the yellow-rumped Cacique are smaller then the males and have
a duller coloration. You can see them everywhere in the coastal
area, in the mangrove forests, but especially in the cultivated
area on open fields. Deeper into Suriname you find them along the
rivers.
They nest in colonies in tall isolated trees. The first photo
shows a bird on her nest made by Pieter Verheij. The second photo
was made by Dennis Binda in 2008, then two pictures of a cacique
and the nests in a carribean pine were made by Frans Salimans in
the village of Bigi Poika in Suriname. The nests hang from
branches and have their entrance at the upper side. The females
make the nests, brood en raise the young and are more abundant
than the males. Males try to make an indelible impression on the
females by showing their yellow feathers and flapping their
wings.
The nests are occupied in the short dry season. The birds don't
like bad weather, they leave the colony when it rains too much.
Nests can be washed out of a tree by heavy rain. The colonies of
these caciques are often found in the neighbourhood of houses and
sometimes of wasp colonies. This will protect them from
predators. But, for more protection, a couple of males are always
on watch and if a bird of prey comes in sight, they sound the
alarm and the colony tree will be empty in no time. Except by
predators like hawks and snakes, the trees are also visited by
broodparasites.
The photo just below this text was made by Tinus Knegt in 2009,
also in Suriname.
Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations on different days and the largest ones 10 or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest. Often dozens of birds are seen together and sometimes even more (2200, Spaans Krofajapasi, march 1983).
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More pictures of Blackbirds, Oropendolas and Caciques in Suriname