The Story
I photographed this Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) on the Orteguaza River at Puerto Arango, near Florencia, Caquetá, Colombia, in February 2020. It lives in swamps, riverside forest and mangroves of the Amazon and Orinoco basins. It eats mainly leaves, and one study in Venezuela found its diet was 82 percent leaves, 10 percent flowers and 8 percent fruit. Its crop is so large that it crowds the flight muscles, which limits how well it can fly. It breeds in the rainy season. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 1600. From the Marco Polo ferry, on a two-hour trip along the Orteguaza River, passengers see the Hacha River flow into the Orteguaza and watch for birds.
©2023 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) belongs to the family Opisthocomidae (Hoatzin) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List