All species › Passerines › New World blackbirds, troupials and allies › Crested Oropendola
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Crested Oropendola | Psarocolius decumanus
Kuiforopendola | Oropéndola crestada
The Crested Oropendola is a large, black oropendola with a pale bill, a pale blue eye and a yellow tail. It is widespread in South America; in the guide area it occurs mainly in Panama. Like the other oropendolas it nests in colonies of long, hanging nests.
Voice
The male bows forward and raises its wings while giving a loud series of bubbling, gurgling notes that ends in a creaking sound. Call a harsh chack.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
37–46 cm. Male much larger than female. Mostly black; lower back, rump and undertail coverts dark chestnut. Tail yellow with black central feathers, conspicuous in flight. Bill long, pointed and pale ivory to greenish yellow, with a swollen base extending onto the forehead. Eye pale blue. A few thin, hair-like feathers on the crown, visible only at close range. Female similar in colour, smaller and with a shorter crest.
Confusion species
Chestnut-headed Oropendola Psarocolius wagleri is smaller and has a chestnut head and neck. Montezuma Oropendola Psarocolius montezuma and Black Oropendola Psarocolius guatimozinus have a black bill with an orange tip, bare blue and pink facial skin and a dark eye; Montezuma Oropendola also has a chestnut body. Yellow-rumped Cacique Cacicus cela is much smaller and has yellow wing patches and a yellow rump.
Habitat
Forest edge, gallery forest along rivers, clearings with tall trees, plantations and semi-open country with scattered trees, in the lowlands and foothills. Less often in closed forest than the other oropendolas. It eats fruit, nectar, insects and other small animals. It nests in colonies in isolated tall trees.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
From Panama through South America to northern Argentina, mainly east of the Andes. In the guide area in Panama, mainly in the centre and east of the country and on the Pearl Islands; there are also scattered records from south-western Costa Rica. Resident.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search at colonies in isolated trees along forest edges and rivers; the yellow tail and pale bill are visible from afar in flight.
Conservation status
Not threatened (LC). Widespread and locally common in South America; in the guide area less numerous than the other oropendolas. It uses semi-open landscapes but needs tall trees for its colonies.
Scientific name
Psarocolius decumanus | (Pallas, 1769)
Pallas described the species in 1769 as Xanthornus decumanus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Psarocolius was introduced in 1827 by Wagler. Psarocolius is Greek, from psar 'starling' and koloios 'jackdaw', for these large, starling-like birds. decumanus is Latin for 'large, huge' (literally 'of the tenth', like the biggest wave), after the bird's size. The specimen the first description was based on came from Suriname.