The Story
I photographed this Chestnut-capped Warbler (Basileuterus delattrii) at La Esmeralda Hostal, in the vereda Pastales near Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia, in October 2019. It ranges from Guatemala to Colombia and Venezuela. It was lumped with the Rufous-capped Warbler for years, and eBird now treats the two as separate species. It has a chestnut crown and ear patch with a long white eyebrow between them, and golden yellow underparts. The subspecies mesochrysus has a paler crown and a grayish neck. IUCN still assesses it together with the Rufous-capped Warbler and lists the combined species as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. Finca La Esmeralda, in the vereda Pastales on the road to the Nevado del Tolima, now hosts birders as Tángara Real Eco Lodging.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Chestnut-capped Warbler (Basileuterus delattrii) belongs to the family Parulidae (New World Warblers) 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 decreasing. IUCN does not yet assess the Chestnut-capped Warbler separately; this is the assessment of Rufous-capped Warbler (Basileuterus rufifrons), which IUCN treats as including it. Source: IUCN Red List