The Story
On July 4, 2017, I photographed this Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum) in La Macarena, Meta, Colombia. It is a resident breeder from Nicaragua south to Bolivia, Paraguay and southern Brazil. It lives in semi-open country including farmland and gardens, and takes nectar, flower petals and insects. It is a medium-sized tanager, grey to dull olive-green, with blackish flight feathers. La Macarena has become an ecotourism destination, above all for Caño Cristales, the river of five colors.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 250. IUCN lists the Palm Tanager as Least Concern with a stable population, and the botanical garden just outside La Macarena invites visitors to take part in its restoration work.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Palm Tanager (Thraupis palmarum) 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 2018), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List