Maquenque Oropendolas

There are two species of Oropendolas common in Cost Rica and at Maquenque, the Montezuma Oropendola (3 photos here) and the less common Chestnut-headed Oropendola (1 photo here). There are two more Oropendolas in Central America, both in Panama with the Crested Oropendola occasionally coming over the border into southern Costa Rica and the Black Oropendola is found only further in southern Panama. Male & female appear the same in all Oropendolas.

This week at Maquenque I observed a mother Montezuma Oropendola feeding a baby or juvenile blackbird (either a Melodious Blackbird or a Giant Cowbird if the eye is red like some said). It was interesting to watch and the pair are in one photo below and I featured them in a post while I was there titled A BLM Example in Nature.

CLICK an image to enlarge or start a manual slide show.

See my Maquenque Birds 2020 Gallery from this trip with 61 species!

See also my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.

And for about the place, Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve Website.

Or my travel gallery Maquenque Eco-Lodge July 2020 Visit

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Parrots & More

Everyone loves parrots and the general family includes not only Parrots, but Macaws, Parakeets and these other more distantly related birds, the Ani, a Woodpecker and Trogons plus I’m including two types of Oropendolas which are in a category of their own, all at Maquenque. Enjoy!

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Costa Rica Birds Gallery 

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery    

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

5 Bird Nests Seen at Rancho Naturalista

Snowcap Hummingbird Nest
Wayne’s house near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Sunbittern Nest (vacant now)
La Mina near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Royal Flycatcher Nest 
 We waited a while but never saw the bird.
La Mina near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Montezuma Oropendola Nest 
 Used by another bird below
Wayne’s house near
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Olive-backed Euphonia Nest 
 Inside the top of Oropendola Nest
Wayne’s house near
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Olive-backed Euphonia Nest 
Inside the top of Oropendola Nest  –  Baby visible here.
Wayne’s house near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

See photo of several Oropendola Nests  in a tree at Selva Verde Lodge.

Other kinds of nests in my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery all with birds on them:
Bare-throated Tiger Heron on Her Nest at Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica

Common Black-Hawk on Her Nest in tree along Tarcoles River, Costa Rica

Social Flycatcher on Her Nest in  Cañon Negro Reserva, Rio Frio, Costa Rica
Inca Dove on Her Nest in my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

14 More Birds from the 5th

Snowcap Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Black-striped Sparrow
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Red-throated Ant-tanager
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Cocoa Woodcreeper
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Northern Barred Woodcreeper
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Immature Female Red-throated Ant-tanager
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

 Adult Female Red-throated Ant-tanager
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Black Phoebe
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Torrent Tyrannulet
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Tropical Kingbird
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica
Blue-crowned Motmot
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Montezuma Oropendola
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Blue-gray Tanager
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Plain Antvireo female
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Passerini’s Tanager
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica

These were all photographed yesterday, July 5, along with the Sunbittern shown yesterday. Several were made before breakfast at Wayne’s house including the two different Woodcreepers. He too is a retiree from church-related work (Adventist) who loves birds and his house here in the forest near Rancho Naturalista might have more birds than the lodge with even more feeders. A really nice guy.

I also made photos of several bird nests which I will show in another post, plus flowers, scenery, and other animals for future posts. So like most trips it will keep on giving blog posts.  🙂

And the new species will soon be added to my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery where there are already photos of 223 species of birds in Costa Rica, and soon to be about 235 or more!

¡Pura Vida!

More Birds from Rancho Naturalista

 NAME CORRECTION
Chestnut-headed Oropendola
The other day I mistakenly called it a “Crested Oropendola,” which does not
appear in this part of Costa Rica, only a few near Panama border in SW
I’ve not seen this in Atenas, only the Montezuma Oropendola, a favorite!
This one photographed at Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica

The following photos were made at CATIE campus near Turrialba, an agronomic program for research and education for all of Latin America farmers, headquartered in Costa Rica with a campus Trip Advisor reviews if planning to go. Cost is now $10 per visitor. It helped to have a good birding guide because he sees things I often miss! There were a lot of small forest birds I could not photograph because of light, distance and small size of birds. But some of the ones I got below are “first-timers” for me and that is good as my bird collection grows.
here and one in San Jose.  My guide at Rancho Naturalista, Harry, took 3 of us here for the morning of the 7th of Dec. It is a good birding place with a big pond or small lake and a Botanical Gardens with tropical plants from all over Latin America. This terrain is different than the lodge and has lots of possibilities. See the

Tropical Kingbird
Too big for gray-capped or boat-bill flycatchers I believe.
All three are colored the same and sometimes difficult to ID.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Northern Jacana, second in number only to egrets at the pond.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

White-ringed Flycatcher, my first photo
Like the Social Flycatcher except white on head makes a circle (ring)
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Prothonotary Warbler, my first photo.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Keel-billed Toucan, always from a distance,
Not easy for me to photograph.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Chestnut-sided Warbler, which I photographed again at lodge better
This trip is my first time to photo this bird and twice at that!  🙂
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Chestnut-backed Antbird, not great photo but my first!
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Common Tody-flycatcher, another 1st photo – A good day!  🙂
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Muscovy Duck, who we later observed mating  🙂
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Great-tailed Grackle, female, common all over Costa Rica
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Baby Great Egrets, as this pond is a rookery for the Great Egret
Though fluffy & black-billed like Snowy Egret, they are not!
Note Mom’s black foot to left of baby head. Snowy’s have yellow feet.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Hoffman’s Woodpecker
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica


I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.  ~Joseph Addison, The Spectator, 1712