The Story
I photographed this juvenile Oriole Blackbird (Gymnomystax mexicanus) at Beraca Charco Indio, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. Adults are nearly 30 centimeters long, with a bright yellow head, neck, shoulders and underparts and a black back, wings and tail. It is the only species in its genus, whose name joins the Greek words for bare and moustache. Despite the name mexicanus, it lives in northern South America, from Colombia and Venezuela to Brazil. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/1500 sec, f/16, ISO 6400, −0.5 EV. Young people from Meta, Guaviare and Caquetá planted 50 trees on the farm’s Sendero de la Reconciliación in a symbolic act organized by Colombia’s Truth Commission.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Oriole Blackbird (Gymnomystax mexicanus) belongs to the family Icteridae (Troupials 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 2018), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List