The Story
The shot
I made this photo of a Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) at Hacienda El Escobal in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia on June 15, 2019. It is a water kingfisher with green upperparts, white spots on the wings and mostly white underparts, and unlike many kingfishers it has no obvious crest. It favors still or slow-moving water with low perches for hunting. It is a year-round resident throughout its range. Pairs often defend feeding territories from other Green Kingfishers but seldom from other kingfisher species. Hacienda El Escobal is part of the Picaleña lagoon complex, and by eBird’s December 2021 data 309 bird species had been reported there.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the Green Kingfisher as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) belongs to the family Alcedinidae (Kingfishers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
