The Story
This is a Yellow-backed Oriole (Icterus chrysater) that I photographed at the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá in Bogotá, Colombia on June 28, 2017. It is found from southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia and Venezuela. It weaves a shallow, dangling basket nest of fine grasses, often hung from the tip of a palm frond. Adults are bright yellow with a black face, throat, wings and tail, and the sexes look much alike. The José Celestino Mutis Botanical Garden is Colombia’s largest botanical garden, with an emphasis on Andean and páramo ecosystems.
I photographed it with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/1000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. IUCN lists the Yellow-backed Oriole as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and the garden keeps five special collections for Andean plants in danger of extinction, among them orchids and bromeliads.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Yellow-backed Oriole (Icterus chrysater) belongs to the family Icteridae (Troupials 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 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List