I photographed this Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) at La Minga Ecolodge in Dapa, near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in soft, overcast light filtering through the canopy. It sat alert on a moss-covered branch, showing its emerald wings, golden belly and orange crown. It is one of Colombia’s endemic birds, found only in wet montane forest of the Western and Central Andes, mostly between 1,300 and 2,200 meters. Males have a yellow crown, face and throat, chestnut and black ear coverts, green wings and a blue breast and belly with a black central patch. It often travels with mixed-species flocks in the upper canopy. IUCN lists it as Near Threatened.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/6.7, ISO 800. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18, where La Minga sits, is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2025 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Conservation
Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2019), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List