The Story
This female Red-headed Barbet (Eubucco bourcierii) was photographed at Finca Alejandría, at Kilometer 18 near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, at about 1,960 meters. Unlike the red-headed male, the female has a crown and nape that range from dull orange to green depending on the subspecies, a green back, a grayish yellow throat with a yellow to orange band below it, and a white belly. Birds on both slopes of Colombia’s Western Andes belong to the subspecies occidentalis. The female incubates the eggs at night, and both parents share the incubation during the day, with clutches of two to five eggs. It eats caterpillars, other insects and berries. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/1500 sec, f/11, ISO 6400, −1 EV. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18 is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Red-headed Barbet (Eubucco bourcierii) belongs to the family Capitonidae (New World Barbets) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List