The Story
I photographed this Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus) at the Mirador Turístico Don Yo, on the old road from Villavicencio to Bogotá, Colombia, in January 2020. It lives from Mexico through Central America and across much of South America. Males and females look alike, olive-green above with a white chin and a buffy lower throat edged in black. It eats mostly fruit, flowers and nectar, along with insects. It usually forages at the forest edge in pairs, often with mixed-species flocks.
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. Across its range, IUCN lists the Buff-throated Saltator as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus) 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