The Story
I photographed this Rusty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa sittoides) at Finca La Conchita, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. It lives in montane forest and high shrubland, and also in heavily degraded former forest, from Venezuela and Colombia south to Argentina. Flowerpiercers get their name from piercing the base of a flower to reach nectar they couldn’t otherwise get. Its upswept bill has a hook at the tip, the tool it uses to pierce flowers. Most flowerpiercers live in the highlands of South America, especially the Andes. IUCN lists it 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 1/1600 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, −0.7 EV. The San Antonio cloud forest at Kilometer 18 is recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, with the Multicolored Tanager as its symbol species.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Rusty Flowerpiercer (Diglossa sittoides) 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 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List