The Story
I photographed this Blue-winged Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus) at the Reserva Natural El Palmar, near Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia, in October 2020. It lives in highland forest and woodland in the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia, with a separate population in the Venezuelan Coastal Range. It is mostly bright yellow and black, with blue on the wings and tail, and some populations have a moss-green back. Its genus name comes from Greek words meaning unequal lower jaw. It is common, and its numbers appear stable. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. The Tolima government lists El Palmar among the Cortolima properties of the Alto Combeima reserve, whose waters supply about 80 percent of Ibagué’s people.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue-winged Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus) 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 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List