The Story
On June 16, 2017, I photographed this Orange-winged Amazon (Amazona amazonica) in Salento, Quindío, Colombia. It is a large amazon parrot of tropical South America, from Colombia and Trinidad south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil. It roosts communally in palms and other trees, and large numbers gather at roosts at dawn and dusk. Although common, it is persecuted as a crop pest and captured for the pet trade. Salento was the first settlement of the modern era in Quindío, established in 1842.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/8, ISO 500. IUCN lists the Orange-winged Amazon as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and Salento’s historic center became part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 2011.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Orange-winged Amazon (Amazona amazonica) belongs to the family Psittacidae (New World and African Parrots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2018), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List