The Story
I photographed this Yellow-rumped Cacique (Cacicus cela) at El Escondite Reserva Natural, near Villagarzón, Putumayo, Colombia, in October 2019. It is black with a bright yellow rump, tail base, lower belly and shoulder patches, and it has blue eyes and a pale bill. It nests in colonies of up to 100 hanging bag nests in a single tree, which usually also holds an active wasp nest. Females build the nests and compete for the sites closest to the wasps’ protection. Males sing a rich mix of fluting notes, cackles and wheezes, sometimes with mimicry, and a busy colony can be heard from far away. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/400 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800. El Escondite calls itself a refuge for Amazonian biodiversity, where protecting the environment goes together with conscious tourism.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Yellow-rumped Cacique (Cacicus cela) belongs to the family Icteridae (Troupials 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 2020), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List