The Story
I photographed this Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) at La Minga Ecolodge, in the Río Bitaco Forest Reserve near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, at 1,988 meters. Endemic to Colombia, it is one of the most sought-after birds in the Andes. Its green, blue and orange plumage contrasts with the muted tones of the cloud forest. Males have a yellow crown and face, chestnut and black ear coverts and a blue breast. In Valle del Cauca it lives year-round and stays fairly common even in small forest fragments, often traveling with mixed flocks in the upper canopy. IUCN lists it as Near Threatened.
I made this frame from about 6.1 meters with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/350 sec, f/6.7, ISO 400, −1.5 EV. La Minga sits in the cloud forest of the Kilometer 18 area, about an hour from Cali.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Multicolored Tanager (Chlorochrysa nitidissima) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2019), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
