While there are nine or ten recognized species of oropendolas,1 WC has only managed photos of five of them. The fifth and last WC has documented is the Crested Oropendola. WC wouldn’t usually use a feeder shot like this, but it’s the only image WC has that actually shows the “crest” that gives the species…

WC scouted Camas Prairie/Centennial Marsh, about 80 miles east-southeast of Boise yesterday. WC is scheduled to lead a small birding trip there later this spring. Plus, Mrs. WC needed to know if our Short-eared Owl survey route was open yet (it’s not; still snowed in). It was not a happy experience. The wind was howling,…

Another Oropendola species, this one a South American species near the southern margin of its range in central Peru. The Russet-backed is about the same size as its Crested cousin. The taxonomy of Oropendolas in general and Russet-backed in particular is undecided. There are presently six subspecies, but two of those subspecies – the Yellow-billed…

Here’s another Oropendola, this time a Chestnut-headed Oropendola. 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. Like its fellow Oropendolas, it…

It’s not a lark; it’s an Icterid, a cousin to the blackbirds. And it’s one of the earliest arrivals in spring. It’s wonderful enough as a splash of color in the drab colors of the sagebrush sea. That vivid yellow and black is easily the brightest spot of color on the Snake River Plain. And…

The largest of the four Central American oropendolas, the Montezuma’s Oropendola absolutely lives up to its big name. This is the big cousin of North America’s Red-winged Blackbird, is the largest member of the Icterid family of birds. Not only is its coloration spectacular; it’s a colonial nester and a dawn chorus of Montezuma Oropendolas…