The Story
This juvenile Striated Heron (Butorides striata) was at Posada Turística Kenisha in Prado, Tolima, Colombia when I photographed it. It is mostly a lowland bird of marshes, lakes and rivers. It eats mainly small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. It sometimes uses bait, dropping a feather or leaf on the water and catching the fish that come to look. Its nest is a platform of sticks, and the two to five eggs are pale blue. Prado sits at about 321 meters on the right bank of the Magdalena, crossed by its tributary the Prado River.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. IUCN lists the Striated Heron as Least Concern, with a stable population.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Striated Heron (Butorides striata) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2022), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List