The name oropendola is Spanish for gold pendulum. The name comes from an unusual behaviour that the male engages in during courtship displays. He stands with his claws wrapped around a branch, then spreading his wings and flipping over so that he is hanging upside down, like a pendulum. The oropendolas comprise two or three genera of South and Central American passerine birds in the New World blackbird family.
See also: Crested oropendola, Montezuma oropendola
