The Story
I photographed this male Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza) at Ecoparque Los Alcázares in Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. The female builds the nest, a shallow cup of dead leaves and rootlets. It is mainly a bird of the canopy, though it comes lower at forest edges. It forages alone, in pairs and with mixed-species flocks. In a study in Trinidad, about two thirds of its foraging was for fruit, and half of that fruit was Miconia berries. Ecoparque Los Alcázares Arenillo protects 34 hectares of high Andean humid forest on the southwest side of Manizales, at 1,900 to 2,000 meters. IUCN lists the Green Honeycreeper as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. The ecoparque works to protect the wildlife that moves along Manizales’ natural corridors and to help restore the city’s ecological capital.
©2019 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