The Story
I photographed this Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) in the forests near Cajamarca, Tolima, Colombia, in October 2020. It depends on the Quindío wax palm, nesting in hollow trunks usually 25 to 30 meters above the ground and eating its fruit, though it also takes other fruit and seeds, bark, buds and ferns. A pair can raise up to two broods a year. After the 1999 rediscovery, Fundación ProAves founded a reserve to bring back both the parrot and the wax palm. IUCN lists it as Vulnerable.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200. ProAves protects the Yellow-eared Parrot and the wax palm in its Reserva ProAves Loro Fuertesi in Cajamarca, and each Palm Sunday it takes its conservation campaign to Cajamarca and Roncesvalles.
©2021 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) belongs to the family Psittacidae (New World and African Parrots) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2020), with the population trend listed as increasing. Source: IUCN Red List