The Story
On June 18, 2017, I photographed this Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) near Filandia, Quindío, Colombia. It ranges from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil. It lives mainly on fruit but also takes some nectar and insects. It is a common, restless and noisy bird that does well around people and their gardens, usually seen in pairs. The canyon of the Barbas River, on the edge of Filandia, holds about 790 hectares of very humid premontane forest between 1,500 and 2,100 meters.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/14, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Blue-gray Tanager as Least Concern with an increasing population, and red howler monkeys have started using the restoration corridors planted since the 2000s to link the Barbas canyon forest with the Bremen forest.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) 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 increasing. Source: IUCN Red List