The Story
I photographed this female American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) at Pozos La Chorrera, near Acacías, Meta, Colombia, in January 2020. It breeds across southern Canada and the eastern United States and winters in Central America, the West Indies and northern South America. Breeding males are black with orange patches, while females and young birds have yellow in place of the orange. In winter it uses nearly all woody habitats, including shade-grown coffee, and in South America it reaches 3,000 meters. Its orange and yellow colors come from carotenoid pigments. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, and its population appears to be growing.
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 6400. Redstarts help coffee farmers, which has encouraged some of them to keep shade trees and nearby forest patches as habitat for the birds.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) belongs to the family Parulidae (New World Warblers) 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 increasing. Source: IUCN Red List