The Story
On July 4, 2017, I photographed this Violaceous Jay (Cyanocorax violaceus) in La Macarena, Meta, Colombia. It lives in primary and secondary forest and tends to be more common along watercourses. In Colombia it is found below about 1,200 meters. It is a jay of the western Amazon Basin, violet-blue with a blackish throat and a pale bluish-white nape. La Macarena has become an ecotourism destination, above all for Caño Cristales, the river of five colors.
I used a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/6.3, ISO 100. IUCN lists the Violaceous Jay as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and the Sierra de la Macarena has been a national natural park since 1971, protecting 6,200 square kilometers where Amazon, Orinoco and Andean wildlife meet.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Violaceous Jay (Cyanocorax violaceus) belongs to the family Corvidae (Crows, Jays, and Magpies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List