The Story
This juvenile Tropical Gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea) was at Hacienda El Escobal in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia when I photographed it. It is a small, active insect-eating songbird found through a large part of northern South America. Males have a black cap, which is gray on females. Its call is a thin, buzzy gezzz. It lives in a wide range of wooded habitats, mainly in the lowlands. 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 1/2500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the Tropical Gnatcatcher as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Tropical Gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea) belongs to the family Polioptilidae (Gnatcatchers) 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 decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List