The Story
I made this photo of a Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila minuta) at La Macarena, Meta, Colombia. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland and heavily degraded former forest. It is about 9 centimeters long and weighs about 8 grams. It is locally common in savannas and pastures up to about 1,600 meters, and also turns up in gardens, parks and fields. It is found from Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago. La Macarena is part of the Sierra de la Macarena and of the Macarena Special Management Area, which brings together several protected areas.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Ruddy-breasted Seedeater as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophila minuta) 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