The Story
This Yellow-faced Grassquit (Tiaris olivaceus) perched in tall grass near San Pablo de Borbur, in Boyacá, Colombia, its yellow face markings bright against an olive body. It is the only member of its genus, and it feeds mainly on grass seeds, along with other seeds, berries and some insects. It breeds from central Mexico to northern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela, as well as on the Greater Antilles, and its song is a series of high, thin, rapid trills.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/125 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, −0.5 EV. Near town, the Fura and Tena hills are promoted for hiking and birdwatching, and a local association runs ecological tourism there built around their ancestral legend.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Yellow-faced Grassquit (Tiaris olivaceus) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List
