The Story
I photographed this Red-ruffed Fruitcrow (Pyroderus scutatus) at the Otún Quimbaya Fauna and Flora Sanctuary near Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia on June 20, 2017. Males gather in loose leks where they call to attract females. It eats fruit, insects and lizards, with fruit making up most of the adult diet. It is a cotinga and one of the largest songbirds in South America. The Otún Quimbaya sanctuary protects 489 hectares of Andean forest in the upper Otún River basin, about 15 kilometers from Pereira.
I took this with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Red-ruffed Fruitcrow as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and the Otún Quimbaya sanctuary, declared in 1996, is part of a conservation corridor along the upper Otún that links Los Nevados National Natural Park with regional reserves.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Red-ruffed Fruitcrow (Pyroderus scutatus) belongs to the family Cotingidae (Cotingas) 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 decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List