Dives (bird)

Dives
Cuban blackbird (Dives atroviolacea)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Icteridae
Genus:	Dives Cassin, 1867
Species
Dives atroviolacea Dives dives Dives warszewiczi

Dives is a genus of Neotropical birds in the family Icteridae.

The melodious blackbird lives in Mexico and Central America; the scrub blackbird in Ecuador and Peru.

The three species look similar, with plumage ranging from brownish black in juveniles to black with iridescence (green, blue, or violet) in adults, slightly more iridescent in males. The bare parts are black and the eyes are dark brown. The upper edge of the bill (the culmen) is curved, not flattened as in many other icterids, and the bill has a slight hook at the tip. The songs are varied and pleasant. If the ranges of the melodious blackbird and the northern populations of the scrub blackbird overlapped, they would be indistinguishable in the field apart from voice, and some authorities lump these two species into one; on the other hand some split the scrub blackbird into two species.

All three live in open habitats, including agricultural land, and have adapted well to human disturbance.

This genus is believed to be most closely related to Euphagus and Quiscalus.

Species

It contains three species:

Image	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
	Cuban blackbird	Dives atroviolacea	Cuba
	Melodious blackbird	Dives dives	coastal eastern and south-eastern Mexico to Costa Rica.
	Scrub blackbird	Dives warszewiczi	Ecuador and Peru

References

• Jaramillo, Alvaro; Burke, Peter (1999). New World Blackbirds: the icterids. Princeton University Press. pp. 221–227. ISBN 0-691-00680-6. Retrieved 2007-08-19.
• Peterson, Alan P. (Editor). 1999. Zoological Nomenclature Resource (Zoonomen). Accessed 2007-07-29.