Description
The male is in average 28 cm long and weighs about 104 g, with the female 23 cm long and weighing 60 g approximately. The Yellow-rumped Cacique is a slim bird, with a long tail, blue eyes, and a pale yellow pointed bill. It has mainly black plumage, apart from a bright yellow rump, tail base, lower belly and wing "epaulets". The female is duller black than the male, and the juvenile bird resembles the female, but has dark eyes and a brown bill base.
The song of the male Yellow-rumped Cacique is a brilliant mixture of fluting notes with cackles, wheezes and sometimes mimicry. There are also many varied calls, and an active colony can be heard from a considerable distance.
It has three subspecies:
- Cacicus cela cela – East of the Andes, from the Santa Marta coast of Colombia to central Bolivia and eastern Brazil.
- Cacicus cela vitellinus – Panama Canal Zone to the base of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the central Magdalena Valley of Colombia. First recorded in the Serranía de las Quinchas on January 17, 2006.
- Cacicus cela flavicrissus – Eastern Andes foothills from Esmeraldas Province (Ecuador) to Tumbes Province (Peru).
The latter two may be a separate species, Saffron-rumped Cacique.
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