Saffron-cowled Blackbird Xanthopsar flavus Scientific name definitions

The Saffron-cowled Blackbird is a rare and declining icterid that needs marshes adjacent to native grassland. This habitat mix is rare now due to agricultural practices and surely why this species has become rare. It formerly had a broad distribution from southeast Paraguay and southeast Brazil south to northern Buenos Aires. Now its strongholds are in eastern Paraguay, eastern Uruguay, Entre Rios and Corrientes in Argentina. The male is gorgeous, yellow on the face and underparts; black above from the nape to the back, wings and tail but with a contrasting yellow rump. The dark eye is joined to the bill by black lores that create a masked look. In flight males show a distinctive yellow shoulder patch. The female is browner above, and less yellow below but overall similar in plumage. This smallish and slim marsh inhabiting blackbird is not closely related to many of the other marsh nesting blackbirds, molecular data and some plumage features clarify that it is the sister to the Marshbirds (Pseudoleistes). As such, the Saffron-cowled does deserve to be in its own genus, rather than in Agelaius as it was once classified. This blackbird sometimes forms mixed flocks with Black-and-white Monjitas (Xolmis dominicana), these foraging associations have yet to be adequately explained although surely they derive from a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Male average 20 cm, 42·5 g; female average 39·3 g. Male has hindcrown to back , wing and tail glossy black; rest of head and entire underparts yellow, tinged orange on forehead and breast; yellow epaulet formed by lesser and marginal upper­wing-coverts, with similar pattern on under­wing; rump yellow; thigh black, rearmost undertail-coverts black with yellow tips; iris orange-brown to deep red-brown; bill and legs black. Female has narrow eyestripe , crown, nape, back, wing and tail brownish-grey, remaining parts of head (including supercilium) and body (including rump) yellow, paler on belly; bare parts as for male. Juvenile resembles female, with rump lemon-yellow; yearling male may retain brownish feathers mixed with black and yellow in head and upperparts.

SE Paraguay and SE Brazil (from Santa Catarina) S to NE Argentina (Corrientes and Entre Ríos) and Uruguay; formerly widespread.

Wet grassland, bogs and marshes, usually in open environments. In treeless areas in Argentinian pampas, but elsewhere tolerates some arboreal vegetation. In SE Paraguay found in abrupt interface between open grasslands (campos) and interior Atlantic Forest, living in large (50–100 ha) natural patches of grassland and marsh surrounded by dense subtropical forest or stands of the arboreal bamboo Bambusa angustifolia. Also in rice fields, even when breeding. In Entre Ríos (Argentina) occupies rolling countryside with fertile soils, mostly covered with agricultural fields and cattle pastures. In highlands of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) found in grassland near Araucaria forest. Up to 1000 m.

Resident, although subject to some local movements.

Insects, spiders (Araneae), small vertebrates (frogs); rarely, seeds (including some cultivated plants). Faecal analyses indicate that insects and spiders comprise bulk of diet; insects consumed represent all main orders, i.e. Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera, Hymen­optera. Forages mostly on the ground, where flocks use “rolling” technique. Probes and gapes in soil, and picks prey from grass and low vegetation. Also captures alates of ants (Formicidae) in air. Food for chicks often obtained hundreds of metres from nest or colony. Sociable, in small groups and larger flocks; often associates with other bird species, notably Black-and-white Monjita (Xolmis dominicanus), also Streamer-tailed Tyrant (Gubernetes yetapa), and with Pseudoleistes.

Song  , by both sexes, brief and unmusical, starts with short whistled or warbled notes, ends with rasping “kluijjjjjj”. Commonest call “chep”; during nesting, an alarm whistle.

Season Oct–Dec, breeding activities in colony usually synchronized; apparently single-brooded. Nests solitarily or in small colonies of up to c. 30–40 nests, in shallow marshes or abandoned rice fields, sometimes on dry land (e.g. most of Entre Ríos, in Argentina). Evidence of possible co-operative breeding, with male helpers at nest. Nest built by female, an open cup made from plant material, mostly grass stems and leaves, lined with plant fibres external diameter 12–15 cm and depth 7–8 cm, placed up to 1 m above ground in emergent marsh vegetation such as Ludwigia, aquatic grasses, sedges e.g. Rhynchospora corymbosa, or in herbaceous vegetation including weeds such as thistles (Cirsium vulgare) or teasels (Dipsacus fullonum), or in low shrub e.g. Baccharis; a few nests built on the ground. Clutch 3–5 eggs, usually 4, pale with dense brick-red spotting; incubation by female, sometimes fed by male, period 12–13 days; both parents defend nest and feed chicks, nestling period usually 12 days. Nests parasitized by Molothrus bonariensis; in Entre Ríos, host chicks outnumber parasite chicks in post-breeding flocks.

VULNERABLE. Rare to locally uncommon; declining. Range was once larger, but species possibly not common or widespread even in 19th century. In 1800s, range extended from S Brazil and most of Paraguay S over much of N & C Argentina (including rural suburbs of Buenos Aires city) and most of Uruguay; by end of that century, its range had decreased, especially in Argentina, where the species became extinct in most of Buenos Aires Province (last nesting attempt in 1932). Currently, small populations survive in four disjunct areas: E Paraguay, NE Argentina (parts of Entre Ríos and Corrientes), SE Brazil (mostly Rio Grande do Sul) and S & E Uruguay. Estimated global population 2500–10,000 individuals, and possibly no more than 2500 mature individuals Adrian di Giacomo, BirdLife International Globally Threatened Bird Forums . Population in Paraguay estimated at 2000–3000 individuals BirdLife International (2016) Species factsheet: Xanthopsar flavus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/10/2016. , in Uruguay <1000 individuals (1 Azpiroz, A.B., Alfaro, M. and Jiménez, S. (2012). Lista Roja de las Aves del Uruguay. Una evaluación del estado de conservación de la avifauna nacional con base en los criterios de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza. Dirección Nacional de Medio Ambiente, Montevideo, Uruguay. Close ) and in Argentina c. 500–600 birds (with a smaller number of mature individuals) Adrian di Giacomo, BirdLife International Globally Threatened Bird Forums ; largest population in Brazil, unquantified but <10,000 individuals. Recent extensive fieldwork during 2013–2014 in Argentina revealed a sharp decline in numbers of all known populations, together with increased fragmentation and isolation of subpopulations Adrian di Giacomo, BirdLife International Globally Threatened Bird Forums . If the situation observed in Argentina is mirrored in subpopulations in Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay, then the global population may be suffering a very rapid and on-going population decline Adrian di Giacomo, BirdLife International Globally Threatened Bird Forums . Decline probably due to several factors: this species is captured (illegally) for cagebird trade during breeding season, which can destroy entire colonies; habitat destruction through large-scale replacement of natural grassland by pine (Pinus) and eucalypt (Eucalyptus) plantations, coupled with drainage of wetlands, a serious problem, and was probably a major cause of extinction of populations in Buenos Aires Province; fires during the breeding season, for centuries used as a tool in management of cattle, probably had serious impact; parasitism by Molothrus bonariensis, reported as long ago as 1881, no doubt exacerbates effects of other problems. Only 1% of remnant natural grasslands are protected, but these do not include any breeding sites (2 Di Giacomo, A.S., Vickery, P.D., Casañas, H., Spitznagel, O.A., Ostrosky, C., Krapovickas, S. and Bosso, A.J. (2010). Landscape associations of globally threatened grassland birds in the Aguapey River Important Bird Area, Corrientes, Argentina. Bird Conserv. Int. 20: 62-73. Close , 3 Azpiroz, A.B., Isacch, J.P., Dias, R.A., Di Giacomo, A.S., Fontana, C.S. and Palarea, C.M. (2012). Ecology and conservation of grassland birds in southeastern South America: a review. Journal of Field Ornithology. 83(3): 217–246. Close ). Found in several protected areas, including San Rafael National Park (Paraguay), Aparados da Serra National Park (Brazil), and Bañados del Este Biosphere Reserve, including Potrerillo de Santa Teresa Reserve (E Uruguay). Generally unprotected in Argentina. Considered nationally Vulnerable in Brazil and Uruguay (4 Silveira, L. F., and F. C. Straube (2008). Aves. Pp. 378–679 in:. Close , 1 Azpiroz, A.B., Alfaro, M. and Jiménez, S. (2012). Lista Roja de las Aves del Uruguay. Una evaluación del estado de conservación de la avifauna nacional con base en los criterios de la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza. Dirección Nacional de Medio Ambiente, Montevideo, Uruguay. Close , 5 MMA (2014). Lista Nacional Oficial de Espécies da Fauna Ameaçadas de Extinção. Portaria No 444, de 17 de dezembro de 2014. Diário Oficial da União - Seção 1. Nº 245, quinta-feira, 18 de dezembro de 2014. Close ), and has recently been uplisted to Critically Endangered at the national level in Argentina (6 López-Lanús, B., Grilli, P., Coconier, E., Di Giacomo, A. and Banchs, R. (2008). Categorización de las aves de la Argentina según su estado de conservación. Aves Argentinas / Asociación Ornitológica del Plata & Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Close , 7 Aves Argentinas and Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable de la Nación (2015). Recategorización de las aves silvestres de Argentina. Aves Argentinas, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Close ).