The Story
I photographed this juvenile Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) at Finca La Florida, at Kilometer 18 near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, at about 2,000 meters, in February 2021. Adult females have a grass-green head and upperparts and paler green underparts. The female builds the nest, a shallow cup of dead leaves, fungal strands and rootlets, and lays two white eggs with dark brown spots. Linnaeus described the species in 1758, and its name spiza is the Ancient Greek word for a common finch. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/6.7, ISO 3200, +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.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers 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