The Story
I photographed this Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) at the Raudal del Guayabero, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. It is a water kingfisher of the lowlands of the American tropics, from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. It is about 30 centimeters long, with a shaggy crest and a long, heavy black bill, and females are heavier than males, at 125 to 140 grams against 98 to 121. John Latham first described it in 1790. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/350 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −1.5 EV. An hour’s climb above the Raudal leads to rock paintings of tapirs, lizards and ritual dances, which have not been dated exactly but may be 7,000 to 12,600 years old.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) belongs to the family Alcedinidae (Kingfishers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List