About Icterus icterus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Description: Venezuelan troupials are fairly large-sized birds, with a long tail and a bulky bill. They have a black head and upper breast. The feathers on the front of the neck and upper breast stick outward, creating an uneven boundary between the black plumage and the orange plumage of the bird's lower breast and underside. The remaining orange coloration occurs on the upper and lower back, separated by black shoulders. The wings are mostly black, except for a white streak that runs the full length of the wing when the wing is closed. Their eyes are yellow, and each eye is surrounded by a patch of bright, blue, naked skin. Habitat: Venezuelan troupials live in dry areas including woodlands, gallery forest, dry scrub, plains, and open savanna. In these habitats, they mainly forage for fruits of the giant cactus, which make up their entire diet when this fruit is in season. They also eat other types of fruit, such as mangoes, sapodillas, papaya, soursop, dates and malpighia cherries. They have also been recorded eating juvenile birds and unhatched eggs from nests that they attack.
