General Information

The Montezuma Oropendola is a quite common bird in the areas of its range. 

Physical Description

The sexes are very different in size; the male is 50 cm long and weighs 520g, while the smaller female weighs 230g and is 38 cm long. Adult males are mainly chestnut with a blackish head and rear. Their tail is bright yellow apart from two dark feathers in the center. It has a bare blue cheek patch and a pink wattle. Its iris is brown, and the long bill is black at the base with a red tip. Females are similar, but are smaller than males with a slightly smaller wattle as well. Young birds are duller than adults and have a paler and less demarcated bill.

Diet

The Montezuma Oropendola is common in parts of its range, often seen in small or larger flocks foraging in trees for small vertebrates, large insects, nectar, and fruit, including bananas and Cecropia spikes.

Habitat

The Montezuma Oropendola inhabits forest canopy, edges and old plantations. It is a New World tropical icterid bird and resides to breed in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southeastern Mexico to central Panama, but is absent from El Salvador and southern Guatemala. It also occurs on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica as well.

Reproduction

It is a colonial breeder and builds a hanging woven nest of plant matter and vines 60-180 cm long, high in a tree. Each colony has a dominant male, which mates with most of the females and creates an elaborate bowing display. After pairing, the female then lays two dark-spotted white or buff eggs, which the young will hatch from in 15 days and fledge from in 30. There are typically about 30 nests in a colony, but up to 172 have been recorded.