The Story
The shot
I photographed this female Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) from the Ferry Marcopolo on the Orteguaza River at Puerto Arango, near Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2020. It lives in tropical lowlands from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, mostly below 1,200 meters. It eats mainly fish, especially characins, and crustaceans. Both members of a pair dig a sloping burrow up to 1.6 meters long in a riverbank. The female does most of the incubating at night and the male by day. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/125 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. From the Marco Polo ferry, on a two-hour trip along the Orteguaza River, passengers see the Hacha River flow into the Orteguaza and watch for birds.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) 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
