The Story
I photographed this Golden-plumed Parakeet (Leptosittaca branickii) perched among the foliage in the forests near Cajamarca, Tolima, Colombia, at about 2,600 meters, in October 2020. It has green feathers, a yellow stripe behind the eye and a reddish belly. It lives in humid temperate highland forest, especially with Podocarpus trees, on the Andean slopes of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It usually travels in groups of 5 to 15, sometimes up to 35 or 40, and it probably moves around nomadically outside the breeding season. Clearing of high forest for farming has cost it much of its habitat. 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 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. The wax palm, Colombia’s national tree, is threatened by deforestation and by the cutting of its fronds for Palm Sunday, and ProAves hands out palm seedlings to people with room to plant them.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Golden-plumed Parakeet (Leptosittaca branickii) belongs to the family Psittacidae (New World and African Parrots) 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
