The Story
I photographed this Cinereous Mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra) at the Raudal del Guayabero, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. Adults are mostly gray with a thin orange ring around the eye, and two rows of cinnamon spots on the wings show as broken wing bars. Young birds slowly move their heads from side to side, which is thought to make them look like a moving caterpillar. It forages from the understory to the midstory and in Colombia occurs up to 600 meters. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/250 sec, f/11, ISO 6400, +1 EV. An hour’s climb above the Raudal leads to rock paintings of tapirs, lizards and ritual dances, which have not been dated exactly but may be 7,000 to 12,600 years old.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Cinereous Mourner (Laniocera hypopyrra) belongs to the family Tityridae (Tityras 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