This bird has always intrigued me with its bright colors and unique nests and because I have seen him all over the country from coast to coast, mountains, valleys and lowlands! Read about the Montezuma Oropendola on eBirds site or see my collection of photos in my Montezuma Oropendola Gallery. I tell more about this photo and the unique nests they make in my Backstory below plus links to the places I made my photos as trip galleries.
Backstory
This is one of my favorite of my many Oropendola shots because he and the limb he is sitting on are all on the same plane and thus all in focus. Plus you can see his face colors and his bright yellow tail though I have better face shots in my gallery. This photo was made from the deck of my room at Arenal Observatory Lodge and one of the two places where I’ve photographed the most of this bird with the other being Maquenque Lodge & Reserve, though seen on both coasts and in my yard in the Central Valley.
Unique Nests
They make long tubular nests like the Village Weaver birds made in West Africa and thus remind me of my three years living there! 🙂 Some say that they make these nests longer than a monkey’s arm so he cannot steal their eggs or the babies when hatched.
Whatever the reason, you know that they are around when you see these nests in trees. You are also aware of them from their unique bubbling song. To hear, see the video below.
TRIP GALLERIES where I’ve seen this bird . . .
- 2020 December 21-27, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Reserve
- 2020 June 30–July 6- Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve
- 2019 November 11-17–Arenal Observatory
- 2019 Feb 9-13–Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge
- 2019 Jan 14-19 — Maquenque Ecolodge & Reserve, Boca Tapada
- 2018-Sept-6-11–Caribe South, Puerto Viejo, at Gandoca-Manzanillo Refuge
- 2018-May 4-9 – Arenal Observatory Lodge
- 2017, July 3-7 – Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica
- 2016 December 23-27 – Selva Verde Lodge, Sarapiqui
- 2016 May 22-23 – Cerro Lodge & Carara National Park
- 2016 Feb 15-17 – Tortuguero Laguna Lodge
- 2015 Dec 6-9 – Rancho Naturalista
- Plus in my garden in Atenas
Song of the Montezuma Oropendola . . .
The Other Oropendola found Here . . .
Note that we also have another kind of Oropendola here, the Chestnut-headed Oropendola (link to my gallery) which is colored a little differently but makes the same kind of nests. And technically there is a third kind barely here that I have never seen called the Crested Oropendola found only near the Panama border and throughout Panama. Panama also has a Black Oropendola but not the Montezuma or Chestnut-headed like Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!