The Story
I photographed this Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) at Ukuku Rural Lodge in Juntas, Tolima, Colombia. It lives in a variety of habitats but always near water. It mostly eats insects, waiting on a perch and then sallying out to catch them in the air. Its open cup nest is placed under a cliff or bridge and cemented in place with mud. It breeds from southwest Oregon and California south through Central and South America. Juntas is a rural district of Ibagué in the Combeima Canyon, a buffer zone of Los Nevados National Natural Park where more than 300 bird species have been recorded.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/100 sec, f/5.6, ISO 6400. IUCN lists the Black Phoebe as Least Concern, with an increasing population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans) belongs to the family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) 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 increasing. Source: IUCN Red List