The Story
I photographed this Yellow-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis) at Finca La Esmeralda, near Santander de Quilichao in Cauca, Colombia. It is found from Costa Rica through most of South America, and in Colombia it occurs in all three Andean ranges. A seed-eating member of the tanager family, it lives in grasslands, clearings, fallow fields and weedy pastures, plucking grass seeds from the seed head or bending the stalk to the ground. Its nest is a cup woven from grass and other plant fibers, typically in a shrub or tree within about a meter of the ground. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I photographed it with a Canon R5 and the RF 800mm f/11 plus the RF 1.4x extender, at 1/250 sec, f/16, ISO 1600, +1 EV. Santander de Quilichao’s town council made the Yellow Oriole, known locally as the chicao, its emblem bird.
©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