The Story
I photographed this Torrent Tyrannulet (Serpophaga cinerea) at the Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary near Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia. Only the female incubates the two buffy white eggs. Both parents brood and feed the nestlings. It lives along rocky, fast-flowing mountain streams. Between flights it wags and flicks its tail. The Santuario de Fauna y Flora Otún Quimbaya lies in the Central Andes of Risaralda, and its vegetation is typical of Andean humid forest. IUCN lists the Torrent Tyrannulet as Least Concern, with a decreasing population.
I made this frame with a Pentax K-1 and the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6, at 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000. From 2009 to 2020 the community association Yarumo Blanco, made up of people from La Florida, ran the sanctuary’s ecotourism, and in 2014 it won Colombia’s National Sustainable Tourism Award for benefits to local communities.
©2019 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Torrent Tyrannulet (Serpophaga cinerea) belongs to the family Tyrannidae (Tyrant Flycatchers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2021), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List