The Story
I photographed this Black-billed Thrush (Turdus ignobilis) at La Huerta Hotel at Lago Calima, in Yotoco, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. The Black-billed Thrush takes fruit mostly in trees and shrubs, but it also feeds on the ground in sheltered spots. Its eggs hatch after about 13 to 16 days. It usually forages alone or in pairs and seldom joins mixed-species flocks. Lago Calima is a reservoir of about 19 square kilometers, built for a hydroelectric project and later taken over by the regional environmental agency, the CVC. IUCN lists the Black-billed Thrush as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/30 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. In 2024 the CVC declared more than 18,000 hectares of the upper Calima basin a new protected area, linking it with the Río Bravo forest reserve and the Páramo El Duende regional park.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black-billed Thrush (Turdus ignobilis) belongs to the family Turdidae (Thrushes 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 2025), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List