Family Icteridae
Montezuma Oropendola
Psarocolius montezuma
In Spanish: Oropéndola de Moctezuma (Oropéndola)
- Resident
Hanging nests in the tall trees of Sarapiquí, in the Caribbean lowlands. All year.
The nests come first. Long woven bags of fibre and vine hang from one tall tree, each 60 to 180 cm long, usually about thirty to a colony, and one colony has been counted at 172.
The builders are the females. A male bows forward and sings, a conversational bubbling that ends in loud gurgles, and it is one of the ten calls our birding guide suggests learning before you come.
Where to see it
- Hotspot page
- Named place
- Nearby lodge (numbers match the cards)
- Selva Verde, on the Sarapiquí Riverthe hanging nests in the tall trees, with the Great Jacamar.
- La Selva Biological Station, Sarapiquíone of the birds we bring people to Sarapiquí for, with the Great Green Macaw and the Keel-billed Toucan.
Nearby lodges
Within 20 km of a place on the map, in the same zone.
- 1
Selva Verde Lodge0.2 km from Selva Verde, on the Sarapiquí RiverSee the lodge - 2
La Selva Biological Station2.2 km from La Selva Biological Station, SarapiquíSee the lodge
How to recognise it
A big bird: the male about 50 cm long, half a metre, and the female smaller at about 38 cm. Both are mainly chestnut, with a blackish head and rump, and a bright yellow tail apart from its two dark central feathers. The face settles it: a bare blue cheek patch, a pink wattle, which is a flap of bare skin, and a long black bill with a red tip. The female looks like a smaller male, with a smaller wattle. Only the females build the nests.
Where it lives
Forest canopy, forest edges and old plantations. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean lowlands, which is where we take people for it, and it also reaches the northwest and southwest of the country. In Sarapiquí our team knows the colonies in the tall trees.
When to see it
All year, as a resident.
Trips that find it
- Dancing with Quetzals11 nightsSee the trip
- Costa Rica's Top Birding Spots11 nightsSee the trip
Tell us when you are travelling and our team in Costa Rica builds the trip around the birds you want to see.
Plan my birding tripHow we know this 1 sources, each read on the date shown
- Wikipedia: Montezuma oropendola read 4 November 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montezuma_oropendola