The Story
I photographed this Striated Heron (Butorides striata) at the Charca de Guarinocito, near La Dorada, Caldas, Colombia, in October 2020. In the Americas it breeds in South America and the Caribbean, and it is mainly a lowland bird of marshes, lakes and rivers. It mainly eats small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. Its nest is a platform of sticks 40 to 50 centimeters across, and young birds that feel threatened stretch out their necks and point their bills to the sky. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. The lagoon is protected as the Charca de Guarinocito Integrated Management District.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Striated Heron (Butorides striata) belongs to the family Ardeidae (Herons, Egrets, and Bitterns) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2022), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List