page_title: Chestnut-headed oropendola
section_title: Range and ecology
hierarchical_section_title: Chestnut-headed oropendola / Range and ecology
caption_attribution_description: English: Chestnut-headed oropendola, Psarocolius wagleri, nests near El Valle de Anton, Panama
context_page_description: The chestnut-headed oropendola is a New World tropical icterid bird. The scientific name of the species commemorates Johann Georg Wagler, who established Psarocolius, the oropendola genus.
context_section_description: It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southern Mexico to central Costa Rica, both slopes of southern Costa Rica and Panama, and the Pacific lowlands of Colombia and north-eastern Ecuador. Though it usually stays below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) ASL, it has also been recorded as much as 1,300 m (4,300 ft) ASL, for example in the Serranía de las Quinchas of Colombia. It may in fact be more common at such high altitudes at particular times or in particular places, but its altitudinal movements are insufficiently understood. The species is common across its large range and not considered threatened by the IUCN.
  The chestnut-headed oropendola inhabits forest canopy, edges and old plantations. It is a quite common bird in parts of its range, seen in small flocks foraging in trees for large insects, fruit and berries.
  It is a colonial breeder which builds a hanging woven nest of fibres and vines, 60–100 cm (24–39 in) long, high in a tree. There may be 40–50 females and only 4–5 males in a colony. The female lays two dark-marked pale blue eggs which hatch in 17 days and fledge in 30. Botflies (Oestridae) are the main cause of nestling mortality, but brood parasitism by giant cowbirds (Molothrus oryzivorus) also occurs, and the young cowbirds will feed on the fly larvae.
caption: Nests near El Valle de Antón, Panama
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