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Russet-backed oropendola        Images © Mark A. Chappell

Latin America is home to a number of oropendola species.   They are large, social, noisy relatives of blackbirds and orioles that weave long, hanging basket-nests in loose colonies in tall trees.   This is the widely-distributed russet-backed oropendola, one of the biggest of the group.   They were photographed near San Pedro, at about 1500 m elevation on the east slope of the Andes in southern Peru.   The one below is displaying.

  • Canon 7D; 500 mm IS lens plus 1.4X converter, fill-in flash (2012, 2013)