The Story
This White-booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) was at Finca Alejandría at Km 18 above Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia when I photographed it. The White-booted Racket-tail takes nectar from plants such as Palicourea, Clusia, Inga and Cavendishia, and several birds often feed close together. It makes a tiny cup nest of plant fiber and lichen on a horizontal twig. Finca Alejandría sits in cloud forest at Km 18 on the road from Cali to Buenaventura, and it is an eBird hotspot with more than 340 bird species recorded, about 40 of them hummingbirds. IUCN lists the White-booted Racket-tail as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −1 EV. Raúl Nieto, who runs the finca, won second place in the 2023 Gemas environmental awards for a project that uses birding as a strategy for conservation.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) belongs to the family Trochilidae (Hummingbirds) 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