Montezuma's Oropendula Psarocolius montezuma Oropéndula de Montezuma Montezuma's Oropendula is one of the most interesting birds in Costa Rica. It gets its name from the gold on its tail (oro=gold in Spanish) and from its odd pendulum shaped nests. Oropendula's work to drive away cowbirds, who lay their eggs in the oropendula's nest. Then the young cowbird will push the oropendula out of the nest, and the oropendula mother will raise it. The oropendulas will sometimes eject the baby cowbirds and sometimes they won't, depending on whether wasps and bees live in their tree. Maggots eat baby oropendulas, so if there aren't any wasps or bees, the cowbirds are needed to control the maggots.
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