The Story
I photographed this Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) at the Mirador Turístico Don Yo, on the old road from Villavicencio to Bogotá, Colombia, in January 2020. Its name comes from its yellow color and the word quit, used for small tropical American birds. Its slender, curved bill is built for taking nectar, and it sometimes pierces flowers from the side to steal nectar without pollinating them. It has to perch while it feeds, since it cannot hover like a hummingbird. It adapts well to people, often visits gardens, and is nicknamed the sugar bird for its fondness for sugar feeders. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. Villavicencio is the capital of Meta and the main commercial center of the Llanos.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers 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 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List