The Story
I photographed this Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi) at the Raudal del Guayabero, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. It is the largest heron in South America, 95 to 130 centimeters long, with a gray back, a white S-shaped neck and a black crown that runs into a pointed crest. It feeds mainly on fish over 20 centimeters long, along with mammals and amphibians. It forms a superspecies with the Grey Heron of Afro-Eurasia and the Great Blue Heron. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/4000 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, −3 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 Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List