This is Bird Node.

Listen to this song.

It's a male Montezuma Oropendola, displaying for a female while he swings from a tree branch in a central American forest.

Today he's holding forth in a tree bedecked with 20 or more oropendala nests.

The nests are intricately woven sacks, hanging three feet or more from the branches.

Oropendulas are not just colonial nesters.

They're very choosy about the trees in which they nest.

They prefer a tall tree, separate from other trees, to discourage troops of hungry monkeys

that are wary of crossing open ground.

The female oropendulas weave their nests near the tips of branches so slender that their

limberness makes access difficult for nest raiders. It takes about 10 days to

complete the nest. Oropendulas also favor trees that bear large nests of wasps, whose

stinging attacks deter both potential nest predators and parasitic insects.

The male oropendola's connection to the colony is strong, and he'll sing throughout the nesting season.

And what a song it is!

For bird note... What a song it is. For Bird Note, I'm Michael Stein.

Support for Bird Note is provided by Jerry Tone and Martha Wyckoff from Seattle, Washington,

and generous listeners around the world.