Yellow-winged Cacique

About the Yellow-winged Cacique

The Mexican cacique or yellow-winged cacique (Cassiculus melanicterus) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, the oropendolas, New World orioles, and New World blackbirds. It is found in El Salvador,Guatemala and Mexico.

The Mexican cacique was formally described in 1825 with the binomial Icterus malanicterus, placing it among the New World orioles. The English ornithologist William Swainson erected genus Cassiculus in 1827 for what he believed was a new species. It was later determined that it was the same species as Icterus malanicterus, and because the species is not an oriole it gained its current generic name but retained its original specific epithet. During much of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first genus Cassiculus was merged into Cacicus but DNA studies returned the species to Cassiculus in the 2010s.

The Mexican cacique is the only member of its genus and has no subspecies. Mexican cacique males average about 32 cm (13 in) long and females about 28 cm (11 in). Males weigh an average of about 96 g (3.4 oz) and females 70 g (2.5 oz). Adult males are mostly glossy black and have a long crest on the nape. Their... Wikipedia →