Scarlet-rumped Cacique

Cacicus uropygialis

The scarlet-rumped cacique (Cacicus uropygialis) is a passerine bird species in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds from eastern Honduras to Panama and in the Pacific lowlands of South America from western Colombia south to Ecuador, and in the lower reaches of the northern Andes. There are several subspecies, some of which have been proposed for elevation to full species status.

As a whole, C. uropygialis it is usually called the scarlet-rumped cacique. However, it is often split into two species, in which case this name is limited to Cacicus (uropygialis) microrhynchus (with subspecies pacificus), while the nominate subspecies, C. u. uropygialis, is referred to as the subtropical cacique. The "true" scarlet-rumped cacique - then Cacicus microrhynchus - may also be split further; the Pacific populations have been proposed as the Pacific cacique (Cacicus pacificus). The AOU considers it likely that at least two species are involved, but points out that no dedicated analysis of the data at hand has been published. It therefore does not formally recognize the split at present.