The Story
This Torrent Tyrannulet (Serpophaga cinerea) was at the Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary near Pereira, Risaralda, Colombia when I photographed it. Both parents brood and feed the nestlings. It lives along rocky, fast-flowing mountain streams. Between flights it wags and flicks its tail. It is considered common in Colombia. It forages actively, alone or in pairs, mostly by short flights from boulders in the stream. 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 1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 4000. Yarumo Blanco’s local guides are young people from the villages around La Florida, and its Los Yarumitos group trains children as the next guardians of the upper Otún River basin.
©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