The Story
I made this photo of a White-headed Marsh Tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) at Hacienda El Escobal in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia. Its usual way of hunting is a sally strike, and it catches most of its prey at the water’s surface. It is a resident bird, though it may move when wetland conditions change. It is a small flycatcher of around 13 centimeters and 13 grams. Females have a white forecrown and throat with a grayish-brown breast and flanks. Ibagué, the capital of Tolima, sits on the Central Andes between the Combeima Canyon and the Magdalena valley, near Nevado del Tolima.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the White-headed Marsh Tyrant as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-headed Marsh Tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) 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