The Story
I photographed this male Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) at the Jardín Botánico del Quindío in Calarcá, Quindío, Colombia on June 16, 2017. It is a tanager with a slender, slightly curved bill and the only member of its genus. The Jardín Botánico del Quindío was the first botanical garden in Colombia to be fully legalized, receiving its environmental permit from the regional authority in 1998. The garden’s main site is a research and environmental-education center in a remnant of native forest in Calarcá.
I took this with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1250. IUCN lists the Green Honeycreeper as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and the garden’s butterfly house keeps more than 30 butterfly species native to Colombia.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) 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 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List