Crested Oropendola

Psarocolius decumanus

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernOmnivoreForestDomed nestMedium · 206 g

What the Crested Oropendola sounds like

Sonogram of the Crested Oropendola: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz @rosaelena_naturaleza · Wing song · Colonia Vacacional, Vargas, La Guaira, Venezuela · CC0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Crested Oropendola: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call, calls · Morona-Santiago: e-slope Cord. de Cutucú: Uuntsuants, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

Male crested oropendolas of the nominate subspecies P. d. decumanus average 47 cm (19 in) long and females 37 cm (15 in). Males weigh about 285 g (10 oz) and females about 160 g (5.6 oz). Adult males have long feathers on their nape that form a crest. They are mostly a slightly glossy black with a chesnut rump, uppertail coverts, and undertail coverts. Their central pair of tail feathers are black and the rest yellow. Adult females are overall duller than males; they are brownish tinged rather than pure black and have a minimal crest. Voice: The male crested oropendola's display song "usually starts with low-pitched liquid notes, accelerates into variable and complex rattling crescendo, and ends with 2–3 seconds of rhythmic wing-flaps". One description calls it "very complex, including very high, rapid, staccato flutes and liquid curls".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Crested Oropendola

One bar for each month, and every month is filled: this bird is recorded here in all twelve. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Crested Oropendola

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 14 countries with regular records, and 2 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Recorded as a rare visitor in United States, Uruguay.

About the Crested Oropendola

The crested oropendola, also known as the cornbird, is a species of bird in the family Icteridae, the oropendolas, New World orioles, and New World blackbirds. It is found in Costa Rica, Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, and every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. It is "[u]ndoubtedly overall the commonest and most widespread oropendola".

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Crested Oropendola vs Montezuma Oropendola · Crested Oropendola vs Russet-backed Oropendola · Chestnut-headed Oropendola vs Crested Oropendola

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