The Story
I made this photo of a Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) at La Macarena, Meta, Colombia. It lives in swamps, riverside forest and mangroves of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. It is a noisy bird, with hoarse calls that include groans, croaks, hisses and grunts. Hoatzin chicks have two claws on each wing, which they use to climb back to the nest after dropping into the water to escape predators. It was once thought to eat only arum and mangrove leaves, but it is now known to eat the leaves of more than 50 plant species. La Macarena is part of the Sierra de la Macarena and of the Macarena Special Management Area, which brings together several protected areas.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Hoatzin as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) belongs to the family Opisthocomidae (Hoatzin) 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 decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List