The Story
I photographed this Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. In the breeding season the adults’ heads turn dark red. Juveniles are almost completely white, and immature birds moving into adult plumage show a mix of light and dark feathers. It is not usually found in large numbers, but it will gather with other herons where fish are trapped in shallow water, and it sometimes feeds in grassy fields. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/2000 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −2.5 EV. La Macarena National Park was created by decree on September 1, 1989, and spreads across five municipalities of southern Meta.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) 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 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List