The Story
This Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) was at Hacienda El Escobal in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia when I photographed it. It lives in shrubby, weedy fields, thickets, field edges, grassy fields and roadsides. It forages mostly on the ground but also takes seeds straight from the grasses. It also eats small amounts of berries and insects. Ibagué, the capital of Tolima, sits on the Central Andes between the Combeima Canyon and the Magdalena valley, near Nevado del Tolima. Hacienda El Escobal is part of the Picaleña lagoon complex, and by eBird’s December 2021 data 309 bird species had been reported there.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the Blue-black Grassquit as Least Concern, with an increasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers and Allies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List
