The Story
I photographed this Andean Motmot (Momotus aequatorialis) at El Palmar, the entrance to the Alto Combeima forest reserve in the Cañón del Combeima above Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia, at about 2,464 meters. It sat on a moss-covered perch. Its green and blue plumage, black mask and long, racket-tipped tail are all in view. In Colombia it lives in all three Andean ranges, in cloud forest, forest edges and secondary forest, and it feeds mainly on arthropods along with some fruit. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 3200, +0.5 EV. The Alto Combeima reserve covers 7,356 hectares between 2,000 and 4,800 meters on the eastern slope of the Central Andes, and it borders Los Nevados National Natural Park.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Andean Motmot (Momotus aequatorialis) belongs to the family Momotidae (Motmots) 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 decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List