The Story
I photographed this Striated Heron (Butorides striata) at La Charca de Guarinocito in La Dorada, Caldas, Colombia. The Striated Heron eats mainly small fish, frogs and aquatic insects. It sometimes uses bait, dropping a feather or leaf on the water and catching the fish that come to look. Its nest is a platform of sticks, and the two to five eggs are pale blue. It is mostly a lowland bird of marshes, lakes and rivers. Corpocaldas counts 135 plant species, 14 amphibians, 21 reptiles, 164 birds and 45 mammals at the charca. IUCN lists the Striated Heron 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 1/640 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. In 2025 Corpocaldas zoned the charca for preservation, restoration and sustainable use, recognizing its role in community tourism and artisanal fishing.
©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