Montezuma Oropendola - The Golden Pendulum

 

 

Written by Bob Sundstrom

 

This is BirdNote.

[Montezuma Oropendola song]
 

On a winter morning in the Central American tropics, the sun rises.

In a clearing, surrounded by dense forest, stand the ruins of a Mayan city. 

And on the warming air, this song… [Montezuma Oropendola song]
 

Perched beside its nest is the author of those gurgling tones – a Montezuma Oropendola.

He sings again, this time with a sound like the pop of firecrackers. [Montezuma Oropendola song, with firecracker notes]
 

The 20-inch-tall male Montezuma Oropendola is feathered in rich chestnut brown. He's an oversized cousin of orioles, wielding a sharp spike of a bill tipped in red. As his song display begins, he grasps a branch in his feet, bows forward, and then hangs completely upside-down, wings fluttering. His long tail becomes clearly visible, bright yellow, pointing upward. 
 

Our oropendola's now suspended head downward, swinging by his feet, singing. 

His tail describes a golden pendulum – the source of his name in Spanish – oropendola. [Montezuma Oropendola song, with firecracker notes]
 

You can learn more and see a photo of an oropendola, on our website, birdnote.org. I’m Michael Stein. 
 

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Call of the Montezuma Oropendola provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by C. Duncan.

BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Executive Producer: Dominic Black

© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org   March 2017/2019/2022   Narrator: Michael Stein

 

ID# 031207MOOR1-2KPLU   MOOR-01c