The Story
I made this photo of a juvenile Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) at Hacienda Guadalajara in Palmira, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It is common in open and semi-open lowlands outside the Amazon basin. Its pleasant, repetitive song and bright color have led to it being kept as a cage bird in many areas. Males are territorial and may mate with two females in a nesting season. Palmira lies on the east bank of the Cauca River and is a center of the valley’s large sugar mills. The municipality runs from the cold Páramo de las Hermosas down to the warm floor of the Cauca valley.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Saffron Finch as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) 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 2018), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List