The Story
I photographed this Scrub Tanager (Stilpnia vitriolina) at the Kairi Lodge Natural Reserve, near Manizales, Caldas, Colombia, in February 2020. It lives only in Colombia and Ecuador. Besides moist montane forest and high shrubland, it does well in heavily degraded former forest. It belongs to a genus of 15 tanagers, many of which have a contrasting cap or hood and green or gold ear coverts and throats. Its relatives include the Golden-hooded and Blue-necked Tanagers. 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 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. Kairi opened in 2017 as a rural eco-lodge built around conservation tourism, and it aims for a positive social impact on the people who work with it.
©2020 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