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Species and subspecies descriptions.

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Descriptions of the Species and Subspecies

Pionites melanocephalus melanocephalus Linné 1758

Pionites melanocephalus was the first species of caique named using Linneaus’ bionomial naming system. The reason for this is that Linneaus invented the system and he got to name it. He was also the first to describe the criteria that all parrots must meet. The following is from his System naturae Vol. 1, page 96 is his description for parrots. Of course, he wrote in Latin.

“44. PSITTACUS Rostrum aduncum: mandibula periore mobili cera instructa

Lingua carnosa, obtuse, intega

Pedum digiti antici 2, posticique 2.”

After giving the requirements of a bird to belong in the group he named the Psittacus, he went on to describe the different species that he placed within this group. Among them on page 102 he provides a description of the black-headed caique.

“melanocephalus 33.  P. brachiurus viridis subtus luteus, pileo nigro, pectore albo. Mus. Ad. Fr. 2. p.

Psittacus coccineus, ventre albo. Edw. Av. 169. t. 169. habitat in Mexico”

He almost got it all right. I am still trying to figure out where the red (coccineus) came from. He cites Edwards, but he obviously did not look too closely at lithograph 169 or the text very closely. He also stated that black-headed caiques were indigenous to Mexico, an error that persisted for many years in the works of others who slavishly copied Linneaus. Nonetheless, this description earned Linneaus’ authorship for the species P. melanocephalus, which eventually became the subspecies P. m. melanocephalus despite the fact that Edwards was the first to recognize it and did a better job of describing it.

Here is a more up to date description of the adult of this nominate species. The upper surfaces of the back, wings and tail are green; the crown of the head is black; the abdomen is white; the sides of the body, legs and under-tail coverts are yellow; the under surfaces of wings are black; the undersides of the tail feathers are brownish. Older black-headed caiques sometimes develop a few orange feathers in their black crown (Smith, 1990). Some birds have green highlights on the thigh featheredges. This is very pronounced for a specimen collected in French Guiana I observed in the Carnegie Museum. There is a green line under each eye. Beneath the green line, there is often a wash of whitish feathers. The nape is an apricot color that fluoresces bright yellow under near ultraviolet light, e.g., a black light. Most specimens also exhibit fluorescence of a narrow approximately one cm wide band of feathers extending from beneath the lower mandible to where the white feathers of the breast begin. The apricot colored feathers under the wing and on the upper thigh also fluoresce. The coverts over the ears, within the apricot colored portion of the head are darker than the surrounding feathers. The feathers at the sides of the throat and on sides of neck are yellow to orange. Unlike the feathers of the nape, these do not fluoresce. The outer primaries of the wing are blue on the upper surface and black beneath. Under proper lighting conditions, the underside of the outermost primaries exhibit a reddishness along the vane parallel to the shaft. The inner primaries are green on the outer upper surface and black on the inner lower surface. Bill, feet, and skin surrounding the eye are black. On some birds, the peri-opthalmic skin is a flech to light gray color. It is about 22 cm (9 inches) from its beak to the end of its tail.

Immature birds exhibit several distinguishing characteristics. The most universal characteristic is that their eyes first appear to be almost black. On close examination, however, the iris is a deep brown. As the bird matures, the iris develops an aposmatic orange-red color that the bird uses to signal it emotional state. The breasts of most immature birds, but not all, are suffused with yellow to orange feathers. In contrast, these feathers are white for captive adults. Very young chicks usually have a horn colored bill that changes to black as it grows in. Finally, the bare peri-opthalmic skin about the eye of most adults is typcially dark black. In young birds, it begins as a nearly flesh color that grays slowly until it is black. Less noticeable differences from the adults are green tinged feathers on the head and a slightly narrower tails.

This subspecies’ range includes eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil north of the Amazon River, and Southern Columbia. From Southern Columbia and Southern Venezuela into the northeastern most part of Peru, there is a broad clinal zone that grades into the range of the pallid subspecies P. m. pallidus (Novaes, 1981; Low, 2003).

Pionites melanocephalus pallidus Berlepsch 1889.

Berlepsch was the first to note that this form was different from P. m. melanocephalus in having yellow thighs, flanks and under-tail coverts instead of bright orange. He first published his observation in 1889 in the Journal fur Ornithologie (Vol. 37, p. 317) giving him authorship for this specific. Below is the text and a rough English translation in which he first names this subspecies.

“122. Caica melanocephala (Linn.). (cf. antea p. 291.)

Ein Exemplar von Yurimaguas in der Sammlung des Herrn Nehrkorn, welches ich nicht gesehen habe.

NB- Die Vögel von Ost Pern und Ost Ecuador unterscheiden sich von denen aus Trinidad (welche wahrscheinlich als Typen zu betrachten sind) und aus Guiana durch viel hellere, fast citronengelbe Färbung der Hypochondrien und Tibien, welche Theile bei den Vögeln aus Trinidad und Guiana stets mehr oder weniger orangeroth resp. lachsfarben überlaufen sind. Auch die Kehle und Kopfseiten und die Unterschwanzdeckfedern sind bei den Vögeln vom oberen Amazonas heller gelb gefärbt. Dieselben sind vielleicht als C. melanocephala pallida Berl. zu sondern.”

Rough English translation:

“122. Caica melanocephala (Linn.).  (cf. antea p. 291.)

There is a specimen from Yurimaguas in the collection of the Mr. Nehrkorn, that I have not seen.

NB- The birds of east Peru and east Ecuador differ from those of Trinidad (which may be regarded as the type form) as well as from those of Guiana by being much brighter, having nearly citron yellow colored sides and thighs. These parts on the birds from Trinidad and Guiana are almost always an orange to salmon color. Further, the throat and sides of the head and the under tail feathers of the birds from the upper Amazon are a more bright yellow. Perhaps this form should be separated as C. melanocephala pallida Berl.”

Aside from the incorrect assertion that caiques occur on Trinidad, Berlepsch’s description is accurate. In general, the description applied to P. m. melanocephala fits P. m. pallidus except for the lemon-yellow replacing the orange of P. m. melanacephalus on the thighs, sides, throat and head. Yet, museum specimens that I inspected have hints of orange on their thighs. The nape on both species is an apricot color that fluoresces under a black light, as do some of the feathers beneath the beak, on the upper thigh and upper sides. The under surface of the tail feathers are brownish, while the under tail coverts are yellow. Still, there is controversy among aviculturalists (for example see Smith, 1991) as to whether P. m. pallidus is a separate subspecies. There is a clear gradient between the northeast coast of South America and southern Peru from orange to lemon yellow of the thighs on these species.

We know little about the immature form of P. m. pallidus.  It seems likely that they exhibit both the dark eye color and a suffusion of yellow feathers in their breasts. However, an immature specimen in the CarnegieMuseum exhibited a significant number of green feathers on its thighs. Whether this is a permanent trait limited to only a few birds or whether the green feathers are lost in adulthood as is the case for P. l. xanthomerius is unknown.

Most museum caique specimens exhibit a chestnut staining of their breast feathers. This was particularly pronounced for the P. m. pallidus specimens I saw in the Carnegie Museum. Seeing these birds, one understands why Barraband prepared one of his two illustrations of the black-headed caique with chestnut fringing of its breast feathers. (See Le Vaillant, 1801, plate No. 120) Some early descriptions refer to caiques having a breast that is “Isabel” colored—this color being a shade of yellow-brown. When I saw these museum specimens, I noticed a segregation of the “stain” to the outer edges of the feathers and the central feather shaft of the normally white breast feathers. The staining of these feathers on these specimens is generally thought to be adventitious, i.e., probably a result of daily activities such as eating, leaf-bathing, dust-bathing. The staining of only specific parts of the feather on these P. m. pallidus specimens, however, indicated this phenomenon is probably more complicated than that. I cannot provide a good explanation, but I have two hypotheses. The first is that a chemical-like dye in the food, sap or soil specifically reacts with only those portions of the feather when the bird comes in contact with them as a part of its daily activity. A second explanation is that it may be the result of diet. Keepers of canaries, flamingoes and other birds incorporate canthaxanthin or beta-carotene into their diet to achieve their vivid red colors. Hopefully, someone will provide me with a good explanation.

The range of this subspecies is primarily eastern Ecuador and northern Peru east of the Andes Mountains but it extends well south into the Huallaga and Ucayali River valleys as well as along the eastern edge of the eastern Andean foot hills of Columbia. Specimens have been collected as far east as Tonantins on the Solimões River (Carnegie Museum). North and east of the Solimões-Amazon River there is a broad clinal zone with P. m. melanocephalus extending into southeastern Columbia and southern Venezuela into Brazil. Traylor (1958) noted that birds from Sarayacu, Ecuador were almost “exactly intermediate” between P. m. melanocephalus and P.m. pallidus. Ridgely (2001) noted there was individual bird similar to P. m. melanocephalus in the vicinity of Imuyacocha, Ecuador, but remaining birds were P. m. pallidus. To the east and southeast of the Ucayali River an uplands known as the Sierra Contamana near the border with Brazil separates it from the range of P. l. xanthomerius, the yellow-thighed caique (Haffer, 1977). One may see hybrids with P. l. xanthomerius along a narrow band where their ranges meet, but this has not resulted in an extensive clinal zone (Haffer, 1977). Wheatley (1995) indicates that the “black-headed parrot” occurs in the vicinity of the Amazonia Lodge in southern Peru, but it is not listed by this lodge in its bird list.

Pionites leucogaster leucogaster Kuhl 1820

This is the nominate species of the white-bellied caique, Pionites leucogaster. We now break this species into three subspecies. The one described here, we now call the green-thighed caique. Heinrich Kuhl (1820) was the first to describe it in the scientific literature in his Conspectus Psittacorum. Like Linnaeus, he wrote in the scientific language of the time—Latin.

“121. Psittacus leucogaster Illiger.

In Brasilia rarus.

Cauda, alis, dorso tibiisque viridibus; pectore abdomineque albis; crisso, genis gulaque flavis; capite ochraceo, hic et illic nigrescente; rostro magno, albo; capite magno; corpore crasso. – Ps. Melanocephali, cui proximus, figura et magnitudine.

In Museo Berolinensi, Principis Maximiliani, Temminkiano.”

In his description he recognized its close relationship to P. melanocephalus and this species appears immediately before it in his monograph. It is also noteworthy that at this early stage in taxonomy, he, like Linneaus, lumped it with all the other parrots into a Psittacus genus.

A more complete English description follows. The upper surfaces of the back, wings and tail are green; the abdomen is white; the flanks of the body and legs are green; the under surfaces of wings are black. The nape and top of head are an apricot color. Although the author has only observed one member of this subspecies, these apricot feathers more than likely fluoresce yellow when illuminated with near ultraviolet light. The feathers under the throat and on sides of neck are yellow. The outer primaries of the wing are blue on the upper surface and black beneath. The under tail coverts are yellow. The inner primaries are green on the outer upper surface and black on the inner upper surface. The bill and bare skin around the eye are most frequently flesh colored, but upon close examination one often sees zones of grey and even dark black peri-opthalmic rings about the eye. It is about 22 cm (9 inches) in length. Their feet a typically a gray color, although some retain the flesh color of the immature bird.

Immature birds are very similar to those of the P. l. xanthomerius described below except for their green thighs. Like all P. leucogaster, the immature bird is most noted for having a significant number of black feathers in their crown that are absent in adult birds.

It occurs in the state of Para in eastern Brazil but only south of the Amazon River. It is believed to have a very broad clinal zone with P. l. xanthurus extending from the western border of the Brazilian state of Para and across northern Mato Grosso.

Pionites leucogaster xanthomerius Sclater 1857

The common English name for this subspecies is the yellow-thighed caique. Phillip Lutley Sclater was the first to describe and name this subspecies. Here is the narrative for specimen 65 from his report in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London from 1857 in which he establishes the precedence for this name.

 “Mr. S. Stevens has lately received a small but interesting collection of birds from Mr. H.W. Bates, now resident at Ega on the Upper Amazon. Although many travelers and collectors have passed through this country, we are still without any detailed information concerning the general character of its ornithology. Those into whose hands collections from new localities come, are in general too prone to pick out single objects and describe them as new, instead of what is much more important in a scientific point of view, giving an accurately determined catalogue of the whole of the species. Such accounts are always useful—in the first place increasing our knowledge of the facts of geographical distributions, and secondly, giving great assistance to future investigators who are studying collections from the same quarter. The species transmitted by Mr. Bates are the following. They are mostly from Ega or from the Rio Javarri, the frontier stream of Peru and Brazil, but the exact locality is in every case affixed.”

 “65. Caica xanthomeria, G.R. Gray in Mus. Brit.

The apparently new species, of which the only two specimens sent have passed into the collection of the British Museum, closely resembles C. leucogaster, Kuhl (badiceps, Lear), but has the flanks and thighs yellow instead of green, and exhibits some minor variations in shades of colouring.”

The appearance of mature members of this subspecies is similar to P. l. leucogaster except its thighs or flanks are a lemon yellow instead of green. Another difference is that the bare peri-opthalmic skin ranges from a flesh color to black. The upper surface of the tail feathers are green but the underside are brownish like those of P. m. pallidus. The under tail coverts are yellow. For most adults, the beak is flesh colored, although occasionally one has black variegation (Smith, 1991).

The most noticeable difference between the immature and the adult birds are black feathers on the head. Nearly all young birds have dark feathers in their crown, although some chicks never develop these black feathers. I have seen a picture of one raised Ralph Lima that had a such a completely black head that could not be distinguished from a P. melanocephalus. Like P. melanocephalus, immature birds have dark eyes that undergo a change to nearly the same red-orange color. As for M. melanocephalus, their breasts are typically flecked with yellow. Their feet are usually a flesh color.

The range of this subspecies is southern Peru, northern Bolivia extending into western Brazil south of the Solimõis-Amazon River. East of this region there appears to be a clinal zone with P. l. xanthurus. As noted above, there is a narrow “hybridization” zone along it northwestern range with P. m. pallidus where the two species come into contact.

Pionites leucogaster xanthurus Todd 1925

This subspecies is similar to the P. l. xanthomerius. Like that subspecies it has yellow flanks and thighs. What distinguishes it from that subspecies are its lemon yellow tail feathers. Below is Todd’s (1925) original description:

“Pilem, sides of the head (down to and including the auriculars), hind-neck, and sides of the neck dull apricot orange; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, upper wing-coverts, and secondaries externally bright parrot green; tail deep chrome to primuline yellow, some of the rectricies with a basal area of parrot green, concealed except on the middle pair; primaries and their coverts with their inner webs black, and the outer webs Berlin blue with a narrow outer margin of green; under wing-coverts parrot green, the carpel edge mixed with yellow; throat, cheeks, and sides of neck below empire yellow; breast and abdomen soiled white, with a wash of pale yellow in fresh plumage, the sides shaded with light salmon orange; tibiae and under tail-coverts empire yellow; ‘iris cadmium yellow; eyelids white; feet flesh white; bill bone white.’ Wing (type) 141; tail, 79, bill, 25; tarsus, 16.”

Little need be added to this description, except to say that the yellow color of the tail is the most distinctive difference from all the other subspecies of the caiques. The tail feathers are not completely yellow, the base of the feather is green that sharply breaks to yellow for most of the length. The underside of the tail feathers and the under tail coverts are both yellow (Novaes, 1981). Its fluorescence pattern is similar to the other subspecies of P. leucogaster. The type specimen for this subspecies was collected by Samuel M. Klages on July 18, 1922 at Nova Olinda, Brazil. It is in the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We know little about the immature form of this subspecies.

The exact range of this subspecies remains elusive. It is seldom reported by birding enthusiasts, most likely because their range is in what is even today one of the least visited regions of Amazonia. Todd’s specimens were collected at Hyutanahan and Nova Olinda in western Brazil. Haffer (1977) reports them from along the Rio Teffe, Rio Purús and upper Rio Madeira. This is also the general range indicated by Fernando Novaes (1981). To the east, south of the Amazon River, Novaes indicates there is a broad but poorly characterized clinal zone with P. l. leucogaster. von Pelzeln (1871) noted that Johann Natterer, who visited Brazil in the years from 1817 to 1835, collected two birds with yellow tails, but provided no indication where they came from. We assume there is a clinal zone with P. l. xanthomerius to the west and southwest.

Fry’s “intermediate” form. 

In 1970, Fry reported an unexpected form of caique from northeastern Mato Grosso along the Serra do Ronador between the upper Rio Araguaia and upper Rio Xingu. He noted that it “differs from described races in the colour of the thighs and retricies; it is nearest to P. l. xanthomerius.” This was a surprising because this is a considerable distance from the range of P. l. xanthomerius and is separated from that subspecies by the range of the P. l. xanthurus subspecies. Confirming Fry’s report, Novaes (1981) refers to this group as an “intermediate” form between P. l. xanthurus and P. l. leucogaster. There is some question as to whether these birds qualify as a subspecies, or are simply be part of the broad southerly clinal zone between P. l. leucogaster and P. l. xanthurus. I have taken the liberty of calling this form “Fry’s caique” after the first person to describe these birds.

Fry collected his specimen in the canopy of a dry forest in the northeast section of Mato Grosso between the Rio Araguia and the Rio Suiá-Missu a tributary of the Xingu. Novaes (1981) collected another three birds of the same description in Mato Grosso on the right bank of Rio Teles Pires.