About Hypopyrrhus pyrohypogaster (Tarragon, 1847)
The red-bellied grackle has the scientific name Hypopyrrhus pyrohypogaster (Tarragon, 1847). Males grow to around 30 cm (12 in) long, while females reach about 27 cm (10.6 in) long. Males and females look similar: their bodies are entirely black, except for a red belly and red under-tail coverts. Their bills are conical in shape, and their irises are white or yellow. When held in the hand, you can see that the feathers on the head, neck, and throat have shiny, bare shafts with thick, narrow webs. This species is endemic to Colombia, where it occurs in all three Andean ranges, at altitudes between 800 and 2,400 m (2,600 to 7,900 ft) above sea level. Its natural habitat is tropical forest, but increasing amounts of forest are logged for timber and cleared to make space for agriculture, leaving very little virgin forest within the species' range. Even so, the red-bellied grackle can tolerate some level of habitat disturbance, and can be found at forest edges, in plantations, on cleared land, in scrub, over pastures, and alongside roads.
