Return of Bird of the Week: Chestnut-headed Oropendola
Here’s another Oropendola, this time a Chestnut-headed Oropendola.
Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Darièn Province, Panama
This is one of the smaller members of the genus, with a body length of about 14 inches (11 inches in the female). It’s fairly widely distributed, from the Caribbean coast of Mexico through Central America as far south as northern Ecuador.
Chestnut-headed Oropendola, Darièn Province, Panama, top of nest visible in lower right
Like its fellow Oropendolas, it is a colonial nester, with long, pendulous nests on a tree at a forest edge. Unlike most of its fellow congeners, a typical colony may have a dozen or so female and just 3-4 males, a polygynous mating structure.
Chestnut-headed Oropendolas are poorly studied; ornithology doesn’t know a lot about the species. But its wide range and adaptability to man-made clearings probably means it is not threatened. Less noisy than Montezuma’s Oropendolas, they are still loud, especially at dawn. Less colorful than some of the other Oropendolas, they are still a delight to see in the field.
For more bird photographs, please visit Frozen Feather Images.
Beautiful!