Return of Bird of the Week: Black-capped Donacobius
Black-capped Donacobius, Eastern Peru
The last few weeks we’ve been looking at Oropendolas, members of the Icterid family of birds, a family with dozens of members. Today we visit a monotypic family of birds, whose single member is the Black-capped Donacobius.
In WC’s lifetime, this species has been considered a Mimid, like a thrasher or a mocking birds, a wren, and now a monotypic. And there are suggestions it may be a member of an Old Word family of warblers. So much for certainty.
Black-capped Donacobius, Brazil
It’s a handsome bird, mates for life and is almost always seen in pairs. It’s a cooperative breeder; the kids hang around or a few years to feed the next generation of siblings.
Black-capped Donacobius, Darièn Province, Panama
it has a wide range, as the captions on these photos suggest; from extreme eastern Panama to southern Brazil. It’s also an avid singer, and with its mate, engages in antiphonic duetting, a highly coordinated duet in which both the male and female sing, but who sings what depends on their position. They call while bobbing their heads and wagging their fanned tails jerkily. The upper bird utters a hard “chrrr” and the other a loud “kweea”. When they sing, you can often see the orange-yellow pouches exposed. The duet is more melodious than the description suggests. The male also has a series of liquid whistles with the female giving a lower grating sound. It really is a delightful song.
Donacobius are widely distributed and under no immediate threats.
For more bird photographs, please visit Frozen Feather Images.