The Story
I photographed this female White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus) in the Cincinati area above Minca, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia. Females are rufous all over, while males are glossy black with white under the wings. The male flashes those white patches in display, opening and closing his wings in front of the female. The species ranges from Costa Rica to northern Argentina, and it eats a wide variety of fruit, especially from epiphytes. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/350 sec, f/6.7, ISO 800, −1 EV. The Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal range in the tropics, and its roughly 17,000 square kilometers feed 36 rivers across Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-lined Tanager (Tachyphonus rufus) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List
