The place
Charca de Guarinocito, La Dorada, Caldas, Colombia. In the hot Magdalena valley near La Dorada, this lagoon is ringed with reeds and busy with fishermen, with Cocoi Herons and Great Egrets hunting the shallows. I was there just after 6 a.m. on a June morning in 2017.
The shot
The caracara stood on a broken, lichen-covered stump between two tree trunks, gripping the wood with pale, scaly feet. It turned its creamy golden head to look off to one side, showing the thin dark line behind its eye, with its dark brown back and barred tail falling behind it.
The bird
A member of the falcons and caracaras (Falconidae), the Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimachima) does not normally occur in forest; BirdLife lists seasonally wet or flooded tropical grassland as its major habitat.
Conservation
Least Concern (IUCN Red List, last assessed 2020), with an estimated 5–50 million mature individuals and an increasing trend, according to BirdLife. Source: BirdLife International