The Story
I photographed this Two-banded Puffbird (Hypnelus bicinctus) on February 15, 2022, at Finca la Reserva de Ecoflora, near Monterrey in Casanare, Colombia, where it sat on a branch. It is found only in Colombia and Venezuela and eats mostly insects, along with small lizards and some fruit. It usually digs its nest burrow into a termite nest in a tree. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/60 sec, f/16, ISO 1600. The bird faces me with both black breast bands showing. Monterrey, in the foothills of the Eastern Cordillera about 105 kilometers from Yopal, was founded on September 6, 1953, and became a municipality in 1960. Private reserves like Ecoflora help keep room for birds in the Casanare foothills.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Two-banded Puffbird (Hypnelus bicinctus) belongs to the family Bucconidae (Puffbirds) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List