Boyerito (Icterus pyrrhopterus) nidificando en nidos abandonados de Cacique Lomo Rojo (Cacicushaemorrhous) en Misiones, Argentina.Fil: Fraga, Rosendo Manuel. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentin

Fraga, Rosendo Manuel

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313SHORT COMMUNICATIONSORNITOLOGIA NEOTROPICAL 22: 313–315, 2011© The Neotropical Ornithological SocietyVARIABLE ORIOLE (ICTERUS PYRRHOPTERUS) BREEDING IN ABANDONED NESTS OF RED-RUMPED CACIQUES (CACICUS HAEMORRHOUS) IN MISIONES, ARGENTINARosendo M. FragaCICYTTP-Conicet, España y Materi, (3105) Diamante, Entre Ríos, Argentina. E-mail: chfraga@yahoo.comBoyerito (Icterus pyrrhopterus) nidificando en nidos abandonados de Cacique Lomo Rojo (Caci-cus haemorrhous) en Misiones, Argentina.   Key words: Argentina, nesting, Variable Oriole, Icterus pyrrhopterus, Red-rumped Cacique, Cacicushaemorrhous.INTRODUCTIONAlthough the Variable Oriole (Icterus pyr-rhopterus) is widespread in southern SouthAmerica, published information on its nestingand natural history is still scant (de la Peña1987, Fraga 1987, Jaramillo and Burke 1999),and mostly obtained in Formosa province,Argentina  (Di Giacomo 2005). Variable Ori-oles stitch their woven nests mostly to theunderside of fronds of native and exotic palmspecies, and to the leaves of other monocotslike bananas. However, they also nest withinclumps of mistletoes and epiphytes, and intangles of lianas (de la Peña 1987; Fraga 1987,unpubl. observ.; Di Giacomo 2005). I reporttwo new and unusual observations of oriolesbreeding in abandoned colonies of Red-rumped Caciques (Cacicus haemorrhous) in theAtlantic forest of Misiones province, Argen-tina. The possible significance of the findingsis briefly commented. METHODSThe observations were obtained during sur-veys of cacique colonies (Fraga 2011) at twolocalities: Puerto Iguazú, departamentoIguazú (25°35’S, 54°34’W) and Parque Pro-vincial Moconá, Departamento Guaraní,Misiones (27°09’S, 53°54’W). The first sitewas suburban but located near a tract of sec-ond growth forest. Vegetation at the secondsite was old secondary forest. Descriptionsand observations were made with 8 x 42 bin-oculars and tape recorders. Observationslasted 3 and 7 h at each site. RESULTSIn the first case, Red-rumped Caciques hadrecently abandoned a colony of 21 nests in anAraucaria tree growing in a garden near ahotel. On 13 December 2000, a pair of Vari-able Orioles repeatedly carried food to an314FRAGAunfinished cacique nest that lacked the bot-tom part. The orioles entered through theoriginal entrance slit at the top. The nest was12 m high and could not be examined, butoriole chicks were producing faint beggingcalls. At the second site, I observed a recentlyabandoned colony of about 40 nests built in aclearing near the park headquarters. Mostcacique nests hung from fronds of a mid-sized “pindó” palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana) butthree nests were attached to a branch of theleguminous tree “anchico blanco” (Albiziahassleri), that almost touched the palm crown.The only birds regularly visiting the colonysite were a pair of Variable Orioles, whichwere carrying food to a 4.5 m high caciquenest in the anchico tree. The cacique nestused by the orioles measured only 40 cm inlength, and was unfinished, with the bottompart still open. The oriole nest was built insidethe cacique nest. It was a shallow bag stitchedto the walls of the cacique nest, slightly abovethe bottom opening. The orioles enteredthrough the original entrance of the caciques,located at the top. The oriole’s structure wasvisible through the bottom. The cacique’soriginal structure was made of coarse brown-ish strips of palm leaves; the oriole’s nest waswoven mostly of thinner yellowish fibers,apparently tendrils of unidentified lianas. Myobservations ended before fledging time, sothe nest was not collected.A pair of orioles was provisioning twochicks, sometimes simultaneously. A thirdadult oriole was seen four times around thecacique colony, but it was chased with muchsinging. Most prey were green insects and cat-erpillars captured in lianas at the forest edge.Tape recordings of the provisioning interac-tions suggest that the chicks were in the ear-lier stages of the nestling period, as theirbegging voices differed from recordings ofolder Epaulet Oriole nestlings and fledglings.The orioles chased or mobbed other birdsthat visited the colony tree, includingSmooth-billed Anis (Crotophaga ani) and CattleTyrants (Machetornis rixosus). No caciques vis-ited the colony.DISCUSSIONThe use of Red-rumped Cacique nests byVariable Orioles has not been previouslyreported, not even in Brazil (Duca & Marini2004, Pizo 2009). Oriole occupation ofcacique nests was not detected among 25active colonies of Red-rumped Caciqueobserved for periods exceeding two days inthe Atlantic forest of Misiones. I observedorioles visiting two colonies, but they werequickly chased by nesting Red-rumpedCaciques. My observations suggest that orioleoccupation of cacique nests occurs when thecacique colonies are abandoned. Unlessdestroyed by predators, Red-rumped Caciquecolonies in northeastern Argentina are aban-doned not earlier than December (pers.observ.). The breeding season of VariableOrioles in Argentina extends from mid-Octo-ber to the end of December (Di Giacomo2005). Probably only late nesting attempts byorioles could occur in cacique’s nests.  Bodrati (pers. com.) also observed Vari-able Orioles in Argentina nesting within thewoven nests of Golden-winged Caciques (C.chrysopterus). Within Icterus, the three troupialsare the best known cases for using otherbirds’ nests (Pinto 1967, Lindell & Bosque1999), but only the Orange-backed Troupial(I. croconotus) regularly usurps nests of thecolonial nesting Yellow-rumped Caciques(Cacicus cela) throughout Amazonia (Pearson1974, Robinson 1985, and pers. observ. inBrazil and Peru). This troupial differs fromVariable Orioles in being an aggressive andspecialized nest pirate, attacking and evictingseveral nesting caciques from an active col-ony. The troupial places an unwoven cup ormat of plant material within one of the cap-315SHORT COMMUNICATIONStured nests (Robinson 1985). Robinson (1985)suggested that troupials may confuse preda-tors by breeding within clusters of emptycacique nests, and this hypothesis could alsoapply to Variable Orioles.ACKNOWLEDGMENTSMy work at Parque Provincial Moconá wasauthorized by the Ministerio de Ecología yRNR of Misiones province. I am most grate-ful to Víctor Matuchaka from the Ministeriode Ecología, Misiones, and to the park rangersat Moconá, for arranging my trip and lodgingin the park. Kristina Cockle commented on anearlier draft of this MS. Ignacio Roesler andan anonymous reviewer improved the MS. REFERENCESde la Peña, M. R. 1987. Nidos y huevos de avesargentinas. Imprenta Lux, Santa Fe, Argentina. Di Giacomo, A. G. 2005 Aves de la reserva ElBagual, Pp. 201–465 in Di Giácomo, A. G., & S.Krapovickas (eds). Historia natural y paisaje dela reserva El Bagual, Provincia de Formosa.Temas de Naturaleza y Conservación Nº 4,Aves Argentinas, Buenos Aires. Argentina.Duca, C., & M. A. Marini. 2004. Aspectos danidificaçao de Cacicus haemorrhous (Passeri-formes, Icterini) no sudeste do Brasil. Arara-juba 12: 25–32.Fraga, R. M. 1987. Vocal mimicry in the EpauletOriole Icterus cayanensis.  Condor 89: 133–137.Fraga, R. M. 2011. Giant Cowbird (Molothrus oryzi-vorus) parasitism of Red-rumped Caciques (Caci-cus haemorrhous) in the Atlantic Forest, north-eastern Argentina. Wilson J. Ornithol. 123:277–282 .Jaramillo, A., & P. Burke. 1999. New World black-birds. The icterids. A. & C. Black Publishers,London, UK.Lindell, C., & C. Bosque. 1999. Notes on thebreeding and roosting biology of troupials (Ic-terus icterus) in Venezuela. Ornitol. Neotrop. 10:85–90.Pearson, D. L. 1974. Use of abandoned caciquenests by nesting Troupials (Icterus icterus): pre-cursor to parasitism? Wilson Bull. 86: 290–291.Pinto, O. M. O. 1967. Do parasitismo provável deIcterus jamacaii (Gmelin) em Pseudoseisura cristata(Gmelin). Hornero 10: 447–449.Pizo, M. A. 2009.  Nest associates and colonytrees of the Red-rumped Cacique (Cacicushaemorrhous, Icteridae). Ornitol. Neotrop. 20:623–627.Robinson, S. K. 1985. The Yellow-rumped Caciqueand its associated nest pirates. Ornithol.Monogr. 36: 898–907.Accepted 13 April 2011.

Variable Oriole (Icterus pyrrhopterus) breeding in abandoned nests of Red-rumped Caciques (Cacicus haemorrhous) in Misiones, Argentina

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Variable Oriole (Icterus pyrrhopterus) breeding in abandoned nests of Red-rumped Caciques (Cacicus haemorrhous) in Misiones, Argentina

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