The Story
I photographed this Swallow Tanager (Tersina viridis) in the Cincinati area above Minca, in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Magdalena, Colombia. Its wing coverts are green and its flight feathers black with green edges. It feeds on fruit and on insects caught in flight, sometimes snapping up several from a swarm of flying ants or termites on a single sally. In Colombia it reaches about 1,800 meters. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed him with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11, at 1/350 sec, f/11, ISO 6400, −0.5 EV. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated range, separate from the Andes, that rises to 5,700 meters just 42 kilometers from the Caribbean coast.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Swallow Tanager (Tersina viridis) 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 2023), with the population trend listed as stable. Source: IUCN Red List