The Story
I photographed this Yellow-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis) near Santander de Quilichao in Cauca, Colombia. A seed-eating member of the tanager family, it lives in grasslands, forest clearings, fallow fields and weedy old pastures, plucking grass seeds from the seed head or bending the stalk to the ground. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its population trend is unknown. It is found from Costa Rica through most of South America, and in Colombia in all three Andean ranges.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender for this one, at 1/180 sec, f/16, ISO 3200, −1 EV. It is significant in the pet trade, and one study estimated that 16,800 are illegally caught and sold each year in Brazil alone.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Yellow-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis) belongs to the family Thraupidae (Tanagers 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 2025). Source: IUCN Red List