The Story
I photographed this Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) on a branch in dense foliage at the Waka Hotel in Honda, Tolima, Colombia, in October 2020. It is metallic green above with mainly orange underparts and a green breast band, and it carries a long black bill of about 5 centimeters. Males have a white throat and females a buff one. It hunts from a perch with its bill tilted up, flying out to catch insects such as wasps, flies, beetles, bees, dragonflies and butterflies. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400, −1 EV. Honda grew up on the banks of the Magdalena River as one of Colombia’s most important inland ports, and the annual fish migration known as the subienda still shapes its artisanal fishing and food.
©2024 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) belongs to the family Galbulidae (Jacamars) 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. Source: IUCN Red List