The Story
I photographed this Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) near La Macarena, Meta, Colombia, in February 2021. It is a large, conspicuous and noisy kingfisher with a rufous belly, a massive bill and a blue back. Males have rusty-brown underparts and a white throat, and females add a bluish-gray band across the upper breast. Its strong wings beat slowly, and it can fly over land for long periods. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L for this one, at 1/750 sec, f/6.7, ISO 800, −1 EV. La Macarena National Park traces its origins to the La Macarena Biological Reserve of 1948 and today covers 629,280 hectares of humid forest, flooded forest, scrub and Amazonian savanna.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Ringed Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata) belongs to the family Alcedinidae (Kingfishers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List