Mountain Cacique

Mountain caciques are about 25 to 30 cm (9.8 to 12 in) long. Males weigh about 92 to 98 g (3.2 to 3.5 oz) and females about 64 to 67 g (2.3 to 2.4 oz). The sexes have essentially the same plumage though females are a duller black than males. Adults are almost entirely glossy black. Their lower back and rump are yellow, and some individuals have some to much yellow on the upperwing coverts. They have a blue to bluish white iris, a pale yellow-ivory to greenish ivory bill with a bluish gray base, and black legs and feet. Juveniles have dark brown eyes but are otherwise like adults.

The mountain cacique has a disjunct distribution. Subspecies C. c. leucoramphus is separate from the others and has gaps within its overall range. The other two subspecies' ranges are contiguous or nearly so. Subspecies C. c. leucoramphus is the northernmost. It is found from western Venezuela's extreme southern Táchira south intermittently through all three ranges of the Colombian Andes and essentially continuously along the eastern Andean slope of Ecuador into extreme northern Peru's Piura Department. Subspecies C. c. peruvianus is found in Peru from Amazonas Department south on the eastern Andean slope to Junín Department. C. c. chrysonotus is found from Junín south into central Bolivia. The mountain cacique inhabits humid montane forest in the subtropical to temperate zones. In elevation it ranges between 1,900 and 2,800 m (6,200 and 9,200 ft) in Venezuela, between 1,700 and 3,500 m (5,600 and 11,500 ft) in Colombia, mostly between 2,000 and 3,100 m (6,600 and 10,200 ft) in Ecuador, and between 1,800 and 3,450 m (5,900 and 11,300 ft) in Peru.

The mountain cacique's diet is not known in detail but appears to be mostly insects and other arthropods with some nectar and fruits. It feeds mostly in trees and typically finds prey by probing bark and epiphytes. It forages singly, in pairs, and in small flocks and often joins mixed-species feeding flocks.