Scarlet-headed Blackbird - Amblyramphus holosericeus

Scarlet-headed Blackbird, Pantanal, Mato Grosso, Brazil, December 2006 - click for larger image

Scarlet-headed Blackbird Amblyramphus holosericeus

Brazilian name:cardeal-do-banhado

Pantanal, Brazil

These photos shows the long, slender and sharply pointed bill. This is used to hammer like a woodpecker on soft vegetable matter. It then "gapes" or opens its mandibles in the hole just made in order to extract any food that it may find.

It is distributed in south-east Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and north-east Argentina with a disjunct population in Bolivia. See the distribution map at xeno-canto. It is a wetland species inhabiting reed beds in marshes. When seen they are most often perched on a stem as in these photos

Scarlet-headed Blackbird, Lagoa do Peixe, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, October 2022 - click for larger image

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