The Story
This Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) sat among dry, curling leaves near Roncesvalles, a highland municipality in Tolima, Colombia. ProAves names Roncesvalles, with Jardín in Antioquia and nearby Cajamarca, among the towns with the largest populations of this Colombian parrot. It depends on the Quindío wax palm and nests in hollow palm trunks, and it was feared extinct until 1999, when researchers found a group of 81 birds.
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 800. IUCN lists it as Vulnerable with an increasing population, and the ProAves reserve at Roncesvalles has been declared the Loros Andinos Regional Natural Park, about 4,600 hectares, by the regional authority CORTOLIMA.
©2025 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