The Story
I photographed this juvenile Thick-billed Euphonia (Euphonia laniirostris) at Qawana Reserva Natural near Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia, at about 1,315 meters. Young birds look like the olive and yellow females, before males gain their glossy blue-black upperparts and yellow forehead. The species is about 10 centimeters long and feeds mainly on mistletoe fruit and other small fruits. It ranges from Costa Rica south to Bolivia and Brazil, in humid forest, edges and plantations. Euphonias now belong to the finch family, Fringillidae. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/11, ISO 1600. Ibagué has more than 551 recorded bird species, and a SiB Colombia bird-monitoring project there describes birdwatching as an important strategy for both development and conservation.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Thick-billed Euphonia (Euphonia laniirostris) belongs to the family Fringillidae (Finches, Euphonias, 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 2020), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List