The Story
I made this photo of an immature Red-headed Barbet (Eubucco bourcierii) at Finca Alejandría at Km 18 above Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Males have a red head, an orange to yellow breast and a white belly. A white collar separates the male’s red head from its olive green back. Finca Alejandría sits in cloud forest at Km 18 on the road from Cali to Buenaventura, and it is an eBird hotspot with more than 340 bird species recorded, about 40 of them hummingbirds. IUCN lists the Red-headed Barbet as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600, +1 EV. Raúl Nieto, who runs the finca, won second place in the 2023 Gemas environmental awards for a project that uses birding as a strategy for conservation.
©2019 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