The Story
This is a Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) that I photographed at the Parque del Café near Montenegro, Quindío, Colombia on June 14, 2017. It breeds from southern Arizona and Texas through Central and South America to central Argentina. It watches from a high, open perch and makes long flights to catch insects in midair. In most of its range pairs stay together year-round. The Parque del Café lies about 4 kilometers southwest of Montenegro and 11 kilometers west of Armenia.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400. IUCN lists the Tropical Kingbird as Least Concern with an increasing population, and the center of Montenegro, home to the park, has been part of the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, since 2011.
©2017 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) 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 2022), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List