The red-crested cardinal (''Paroaria coronata'') is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird in the

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12 ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Thraupidae The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12 ...

. Notwithstanding its similar name, this bird is not closely related to the true cardinal

Cardinalidae Cardinalidae (sometimes referred to as "cardinal-grosbeaks" or simply "cardinals") is a family of New World-Endemism, endemic passerine birds that consists of Cardinalis, cardinals, grosbeaks, and Passerina, buntings. It also includes several ot ...

. It is sometimes known as the Brazilian cardinal.

Taxonomy

In 1776 the English illustrator

John Frederick Miller John Frederick Miller (active 1772–1796) was an English illustrator, mainly of botanical subjects. Miller was the son of the artist Johann Sebastian Müller (1715 – c. 1790). Miller, along with his brother James, produced paintings from th ...

included a hand-coloured plate of the red-crested cardinal in his ''Icones animalium et plantarum''. He coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Loxia coronata''. The type locality was subsequently designated as

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

in southern Brazil. The red-crested cardinal is now one of six species placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Paroaria ''Paroaria'', the red-headed cardinals or cardinal-tanagers (as they are not close to the Cardinalidae), are a genus of tanagers. They were until recently placed in the family Emberizidae. Five or six species are placed here. They are all very ...

'' that was introduced in 1832 by the French naturalist

Charles Lucien Bonaparte Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857) was a French naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist, and a nephew of Napoleon. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal ...

. The species is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

: no

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised. The genus name is from ''Tiéguacú paroára'', a name for a small yellow, red, and grey bird in the extinct

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

. The specific epithet ''coronata'' is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

meaning "crowned"

Description

The red-crested cardinal is a medium-sized species showing a red head, with a red bib and a short red crest that the bird raises when excited. Belly, breast, and undertail are white, with a gray back, wings, and tail. Wing coverts are gray, but the primaries, secondaries, and rectrices show a darker gray. Juveniles are similar to the adults, but they show a dull brownish orange head and bib. This species is very similar to a close relative, the red-cowled cardinal (''P. dominicana''). It is also similar to the yellow-billed cardinal (''P. capitata''), but the latter bird has a black throat, darker upper parts, and a bright yellow bill.

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found mainly in Brazil's

, southern part of the

Pantanal The Pantanal () is a natural region encompassing the world's largest tropical wetland area, and the world's largest Flooded grasslands and savannas, flooded grasslands. It is located mostly within the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul, but i ...

, northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. It has also been introduced to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. In Brazil, it has been introduced to various places outside its historical range, as in the Tietê Ecological Park in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

.Parque Ecológico do Tietê
/ref> Its natural

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s are subtropical or tropical dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

and heavily degraded former forest, at an elevation up to above sea level. It often occurs close to rivers, marshes, and lakes.

Behaviour and ecology

Food and feeding

This species mainly feeds on seeds (of ''

Chloris virgata ''Chloris virgata'' is a species of grass known by the common names feather fingergrass feathery Rhodes-grass and feather windmill grass. Distribution It is native to many of the warmer temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions of the world, ...

'', '' Eleusine tristachya'', ''

Setaria parviflora ''Setaria parviflora'' is a species of Poaceae, grass known by the common names marsh bristlegrass, knotroot bristle-grass, bristly foxtail and yellow bristlegrass. It is native to North America, including Mexico and the United States from Califo ...

'', and '' Spergula villosa''), fruits (of '' Celtis tala'', '' Grabowskia duplicata'', '' Holmbergia tweedii'', ''

Morus alba Morus may refer to: People * Alexander Morus (1616–1670), Franco-Scottish Protestant preacher * Henryk Moruś (1943–2013), Polish serial killer * Huw Morus (1622–1709), Welsh poet * Thomas More or Morus (1478–1535), English philosopher * M ...

'', and '' Sapium haematospermum''), insects, and small arthropods, generally searched for on the ground in pairs or small groups. The average lifespan is about 3.8 years.

Gallery

File:Red-crested Cardinal Maui RWD.jpg, Fully displayed crest - Maui, Hawaii File:Red-crested Cardinal.jpg, Juvenile - Kapiolani Park, Oahu, Hawaii File:Starr-130601-4602-Eucalyptus sp-habitat with Red Crested Cardinal-Hawea Pl Olinda-Maui (24843621609).jpg, Close-up File: Thraupidae - Paroaria coronata (Red-crested cardinal).webm, Video clip

References

External links

Red-crested cardinal videos
on the Internet Bird Collection * (for

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

) with range map
Red-crested cardinal photo gallery
VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q720526 Paroaria Birds of Argentina Birds of Paraguay Birds of Bolivia Birds of Uruguay Birds of the Pantanal Birds described in 1776 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Articles containing video clips