The Story
This Common Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) perched on a slender stem at Caracolí Bird House, a rural birding lodge in the vereda Zuria outside Villavicencio, in Meta, Colombia, showing the bright yellow underparts and dark slate head of the species. It eats a wide variety of arthropods along with some fruit. Both sexes build the nest, a messy hanging pouch with an entrance on the side. The nest usually hangs from a branch 1 to 5 meters above the ground, sometimes near a wasp nest.
I photographed it from about 6.5 meters with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/90 sec, f/16, ISO 800, −0.5 EV. IUCN lists the Common Tody-Flycatcher as Least Concern, and it ranges from Mexico to northern Argentina, though not through most of the Amazon Basin.
©2026 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Common Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) belongs to the family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) 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