Yellow-rumped Cacique (Cacicus cell), Napo Wildlife Center, Yasuni National Park, Ecuador

Description

The yellow-rumped cacique is a bird associated with open woodland or cultivation with large trees. This gregarious bird eats large insects and fruit. It is a colonial breeder, with up to 100 bag-shaped nests in a tree, which usually also contains an active wasp nest. The females build the nests, incubate, and care for the young. Each nest is 30–45 cm long and widens at the base, and is suspended from the end of a branch. Females compete for the best sites near the protection of the wasp nest.