The Story
I photographed this Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca fumicolor) in the Páramo de Siscunsí above Sogamoso, Boyacá, Colombia, at about 3,700 meters. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela and stays all year. It feeds on insects, though the details are not well known. Its nest is a cup of moss and grass lined with soft plant fibers or animal wool, found in grass clumps and dense vine tangles, and one study in Ecuador found an incubation period of 21 days. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/750 sec, f/11, ISO 1600. The Páramo de Siscunsí is part of the Siscunsí–Ocetá Regional Natural Park, where grasslands and frailejones of the genus Espeletia cover the high slopes.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Brown-backed Chat-Tyrant (Ochthoeca fumicolor) belongs to the family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List