The Story
This Scrub Tanager (Stilpnia vitriolina) was at the Jardín Botánico del Quindío in Calarcá, Quindío, Colombia when I photographed it on July 17, 2018. The Scrub Tanager is not a forest bird, and it may be spreading into cleared areas. It lives along all three Andean ranges of western Colombia and in the inter-Andean valleys of northern Ecuador, mainly between 500 and 2,500 meters. The Jardín Botánico del Quindío in Calarcá is a scientific research and environmental education center, and it was the first legally constituted botanical garden in Colombia. IUCN lists the Scrub Tanager as Least Concern, with a stable population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000. The regional environmental agency, the CRQ, has also entrusted the garden with eight hectares of natural forest in the Barbas Bremen forest reserve, near Filandia and Circasia.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Scrub Tanager (Stilpnia vitriolina) 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 stable. Source: IUCN Red List