Venezuelan Troupial

Overview

The Venezuelan troupial (Icterus icterus) is the national bird of Venezuela and is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is found across Colombia, Venezuela, and several Caribbean islands, including Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Trinidad, and Puerto Rico.

Identification

• Fairly large body with a long tail and bulky bill.
• Black head and upper breast with an uneven boundary against the orange lower breast and underside.
• Orange upper and lower back separated by black shoulders, with wings that are mostly black and feature a white streak when closed.
• Yellow eyes surrounded by patches of bright blue naked skin.

Habitat

Venezuelan troupials inhabit dry areas such as woodlands, gallery forest, dry scrub, plains, and open savanna. Their range includes mainland South America and Caribbean islands.

Diet

During the season of giant cactus fruit, this species relies entirely on that single food source, though it also consumes other fruits such as mangoes, sapodillas, papaya, soursop, dates, and malpighia cherries. They have also been observed preying on juvenile birds and unhatched eggs from nests they invade.

Did you know?

As obligate nest pirates, Venezuelan troupials do not build their own nests but instead take over those of other species, sometimes violently attacking established nesters and consuming the eggs or nestlings left behind.