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, at about 1,330 meters. Females have the same bare red skin around the eye as males but no black on the head, and their gray upperparts carry brown streaks. The species ranges from Mexico through Central America and much of northern and central South America. It eats mostly fruit, with some invertebrates and the odd small lizard. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/4000 sec, f/11, ISO 3200. The Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal range in the tropics, and its roughly 17,000 square kilometers feed 36 rivers across Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira.
©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