The Story
I made this photo of a Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) at La Huerta Hotel at Lago Calima, in Yotoco, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Males are territorial and may mate with two females in a nesting season. It is common in open and semi-open lowlands outside the Amazon basin. Lago Calima is a reservoir of about 19 square kilometers, built for a hydroelectric project and later taken over by the regional environmental agency, the CVC. IUCN lists the Saffron Finch as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/160 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. In 2024 the CVC also made 1,277 hectares of the Hatoviejo hacienda in Yotoco a protected area, connecting dry forest with cloud forest.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) 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 2018), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List