Montezuma Oropendola

Deep within the forest, as your eyes adjust to the rays of streaming sunlight through the high tree branches, a flutter of bright yellow is seen flying up above. Soon the flapping of wings and the early morning calls of the Montezuma Oropendola reach a crescendo as their dark bodies are highlighted against the trees because of their bright orange beak and florescent yellow tail feathers.

The Montezuma Oropendola (Psarocolius montezuma) is a New World tropical icterid bird. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southeastern Mexico to central Panama, but is absent from El Salvador and southern Guatamal. It also occurs on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua and Honduras and northwestern Costa Rica. It is among the oropendola species sometimes separated in the genus Gymnostinops. The English and scientific names of this species commemorate the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.