The Story
This juvenile White-headed Marsh Tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) was at Reserva Natural El Encanto de Guanapalo in Casanare, Colombia when I photographed it. The White-headed Marsh Tyrant is a small flycatcher of around 13 centimeters and 13 grams. Females have a white forecrown and throat with a grayish-brown breast and flanks. Its usual way of hunting is a sally strike, and it catches most of its prey at the water’s surface. The Guanapalo River is a tributary of the Meta, and with the Pauto it drains a basin of about 2,100 square kilometers, mostly in San Luis de Palenque. IUCN lists the White-headed Marsh Tyrant as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/400 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100. El Encanto de Guanapalo pays for its conservation through traditional cattle ranching, ecotourism and carbon credits, using the Cataruben Foundation’s Co2Bio model.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The White-headed Marsh Tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala) belongs to the family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List