Subject: Montezuma Oropendola, Psarocolius montezuma, with half-completed nest

Location: Parque Eco-Arqueológico Los Naranjos, near Peña Blanca, Honduras

Stock Number: 09-24521 (above) and 09-24525 (below)

Comments: It takes the female Montezuma Oropendola about ten days to weave the nest. The bird uses a variety of plant material, including Spanish Moss and fibers stripped from various plants. The finished nest will be up to four feet long, which may seem like overkill since the female will lay only one or two eggs.

Most Oropendola nesting colonies feature one male perched high in the tree, and thirty to fifty females construction nests or incubating eggs. The champion Montezuma Oropendola trees have 150 to 170 nests, but such numbers are uncommon.

Related image: A female Oropendola perched on a branch.