The Story
I photographed this female Masked Tityra (Tityra semifasciata) in the Cincinati area above Minca, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia. Her smoky gray head lacks the black mask of the male, though she shares his bare red skin around the eye. Tityras forage alone, in pairs or in small groups, and they are not known to join mixed-species flocks. The species lives year-round from Mexico through Central America into northern and central South America. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/6000 sec, f/11, ISO 3200. These mountains rise from the Caribbean coast to 5,700 meters, apart from the Andes, and they are the source of 36 rivers.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Masked Tityra (Tityra semifasciata) 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 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List