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Montezuma Oropendola | Psarocolius montezuma
Montezuma-oropendola | Oropéndola de Moctezuma
The Montezuma Oropendola is the largest oropendola in the guide area and a common bird of the humid lowlands on the Caribbean side of Central America. It nests in colonies of dozens of long, hanging nests in isolated tall trees. Males are much larger than females.
Voice
The male bows deeply forward, with wings and tail raised, while giving a series of liquid, bubbling notes that ends in a loud, gurgling tlok-glooo. This sound is heard all day at the colony. Also harsh kak calls and creaking notes.
Recording: Manuel Grosselet — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
38–50 cm. Body chestnut, head and neck black. Bare blue skin on the cheek and a pink, fleshy wattle at the base of the bill. Bill long and black with an orange tip. Tail yellow with dark central feathers. Eye dark. Female similar in colour, much smaller and with a smaller wattle. Young birds duller, with less colour on the face.
Confusion species
Chestnut-headed Oropendola Psarocolius wagleri is much smaller and has a chestnut head, a black body, a pale bill and a pale blue eye. Black Oropendola Psarocolius guatimozinus, found only in eastern Panama, has the same face but a mostly black body. Crested Oropendola Psarocolius decumanus is black with a pale bill and a pale blue eye. Giant Cowbird Molothrus oryzivorus, which lays its eggs in oropendola nests, is smaller, all glossy black and has a small head and a short, dark bill.
Habitat
Humid lowland and foothill forest, forest edge, clearings, riverbanks, pastures with tall trees and plantations of cacao, coffee and bananas; locally also in the seasonal forest of Yucatán. Mainly below 1,000 m, locally higher. It eats fruit, nectar, insects and small vertebrates. Colonies are in tall, isolated trees.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
From central Veracruz and the Yucatán Peninsula through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica to central Panama. Mainly on the Caribbean slope; in Nicaragua and north-western Costa Rica also on the Pacific slope. It does not occur outside the guide area. Resident.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
A colony can be recognised from afar by the dozens of nests hanging in a single tree. There the bowing males and the females flying in and out can be watched at close range.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Common and widespread. Frequent in semi-open landscapes with tall trees; felling of the isolated trees that hold the colonies is a local threat.
Scientific name
Psarocolius montezuma | (Lesson, 1830)
Lesson described the species in 1830 as Cacicus Montezuma; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Psarocolius was introduced in 1827 by Wagler. Psarocolius is Greek, from psar 'starling' and koloios 'jackdaw', for these large, starling-like birds. montezuma refers to Moctezuma II (c. 1466–1520), the Aztec ruler at the time of the Spanish conquest. The specimen the first description was based on came from Mexico (unspecified).