The Story
I photographed this female Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. Adult females are mostly green with paler underparts, a mostly bluish head and a gray throat, very different from the turquoise-and-black males. It eats arthropods, fruit and seeds, including Cecropia and Clusia fruits, and it will come to bananas at feeders. It primarily forages alone. It is found from Honduras to every mainland South American country except Chile and Uruguay. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L, at 1/1500 sec, f/6.7, ISO 800, −0.5 EV. La Macarena National Park was created by decree on September 1, 1989, and spreads across five municipalities of southern Meta.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) 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