The Story
I photographed this Yellow-rumped Cacique (Cacicus cela) at Playa Rica Turismo Comunitario, by the Putumayo River near Puerto Asís, Putumayo, Colombia. Males average about 28 centimeters long and females about 23. The species eats large insects and spiders as well as nectar and fruit, and the male’s song mixes fluting notes with cackles and wheezes. It nests in colonies of up to 100 bag-shaped nests in a single tree, which usually also holds an active wasp nest. The females build the nests, incubate and care for the young. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 6400. Playa Rica’s community tourism promotes agrobiodiversity and nature tourism for biocultural conservation.
©2022 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