The Story
I photographed this Apolinar’s Wren (Cistothorus apolinari) in the Páramo de Siscunsí above Sogamoso, Boyacá, Colombia, at about 3,690 meters. The wren is endemic to Colombia, and its names honor Brother Apolinar María, a Colombian monk and ornithologist. In Spanish it is the cucarachero de pantano, the swamp cockroach hunter. It climbs up plant stems and drops back down near the ground as it forages, taking midges, spiders and other insects. IUCN lists it as Endangered.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/750 sec, f/11, ISO 3200. Frailejones, the Espeletia plants that dot these grasslands, are native mainly to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, and the Siscunsí páramo is protected within the Siscunsí–Ocetá Regional Natural Park.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Apolinar’s Wren (Cistothorus apolinari) belongs to the family Troglodytidae (Wrens) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Endangered on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List