Cap blue raven
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Cap blue raven ( Cyanocorax chrysops ) |
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| Cyanocorax chrysops | ||||||||||||
| ( Vieillot , 1818) |
The plush-crested jay ( Cyanocorax chrysops ) is a Blue Raven from the family of corvids (Corvidae). He lives in central South America .
description
The cap blue raven reaches a body length of 36 cm. The head has a hood made of short upright feathers, which gives the bird its German name. The top of the head, throat, and upper chest are black. The neck and the back of the skull are whitish-blue, the color turns into a dark purple on the back of the neck. Above and below the eye there is a purple-blue or greenish-blue spot, the spot under the eye connects with the purple stripe on the cheek.
The top and wings are dark blue-violet, the belly is cream-colored. The moderately long tail is slightly stepped at the tip, a wide pale yellow to whitish band runs over the terminal end of the tail feathers.
The beak and feet are blackish, the iris is lemon yellow or pale yellow.
The white- naped blue raven ( Cyanocorax cyanopogon ) is very similar, but has a pure white nape.
distribution and habitat
Its distribution area extends over southwestern Brazil to Bolivia , Paraguay and Uruguay as well as northern Argentina . In the Andes of Bolivia it can be found locally up to an altitude of 2800 meters, but mostly it lives below 1500 meters.
The capped blue raven lives in open forest areas and in low, dense bush landscapes, in forest islands in the pampas , in rain and secondary forests . To search for food, he also goes to adjacent plantations and agricultural areas. As a rule, he does not fly over open areas.
Way of life
Little research has been done into the breeding business. According to reports, the nests are located in trees at a height of 4 to 6 meters. The clutch consists of 2 to 4 eggs in Paraguay, and 6 to 7 eggs of variable color in Brazil. In Paraguay, the eggs can be found from early October to early December.
nutrition
Caped blue ravens often go in search of food in groups of ten to twelve individuals; they are often accompanied by the related purple ravens ( Cyanocorax cyanomelas ) where the distribution area overlaps .
Cap blue ravens are omnivores. They feed on seeds, fruits and berries, grains of all kinds, nuts and other forest fruits as well as on insects and their larvae, smaller vertebrates, bird eggs and nestlings. Occasionally carrion is also eaten. The capped blue raven finds its food both on the forest floor and in the branches of the trees. In the trees he is mostly on the move in the lower layers. Cap blue ravens are considered to be predatory. Her specialty is robbing other birds' nests.
Subspecies
Four subspecies have been distinguished so far:
- Cyanocorax chrysops diesingii fur, 1856 - This subspecies occurs in Brazil from the extreme east of the state of Amazonas (right of the Rio Madeira ) to the lower reaches of the Rio Tapajós south of the Amazon in the west of the state of Pará .
- Cyanocorax chrysops insperatus Pinto & Camargo, 1961 - The occurrence of this subspecies in Brazil is limited to the Serra do Cachimbo in the southwest of the state of Pará on the lower reaches of the Rio Tapajós .
- Cyanocorax chrysops chrysops (Vieillot, 1818) - The nominate form occurs in the north, east and southeast of Bolivia (in the departments of Beni , Cochabamba , Santa Cruz , Chuquisaca and Tarija ), as well as in the adjacent southeast of Brazil (from the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and São Paulo south to Rio Grande do Sul ), in Paraguay and in the north-west of Uruguay and in north-east Argentina (south to the province of Chaco and the province of Entre Ríos ).
- Cyanocorax chrysops tucumanus Cabanis, 1883 - This subspecies is native to Argentina and lives in the provinces of Salta , Tucumán , Catamarca, and La Rioja .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Sarah K. Reich: Cyanocorax chrysops . TS Schulenberg (Ed.): Neotropical Birds Online . The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e Steve Madge, Hilary Burn: Crows and Jays. Helm, 1994, ISBN 978-0691088839 , p. 89.
- ↑ a b Plush-crested Jay ( Cyanocorax chrysops ) in the Internet Bird Collection
- ↑ Charles gald Sibley: Distribution and Taxonomy of Birds of the World. Yale University Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0300049695 , p. 465
Web links
- Cyanocorax chrysops in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2013.1. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Plush-crested Jay (Cyanocorax chrysops) in the Internet Bird Collection