[TN-Bird] New Bird Described From Columbia

From: "Charles P. Nicholson" <cpnichol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 20:31:50 -0400
The Yariguies brush-finch
 

New York Times, October 9, 2006


Colorful Bird Discovered in Colombia 


By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Published: October 9, 2006


A new species of bird named Yariguies Brush-Finch was discovered recently by
a Colombian-British team of scientists. 

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- A colorful new bird has been discovered in a
previously unexplored Andean cloud forest, spurring efforts to protect the
area, conservation groups said Monday.

The bright yellow and red-crowned Yariguies brush-finch was named for the
indigenous tribe that once inhabited the mountainous area where it was
discovered.

For conservationists the discovery of the species came at a crucial time --
the government has decided to set aside 500 acres of the pristine cloud
forest where the bird lives to create a national park.

''The bird was discovered in what is the last remnants of cloud forest in
that region,'' Camila Gomez, of the Colombia conservation group ProAves,
said on Monday. ''There are still lots of undiscovered flora and fauna
species that live in the area.''

The small bird can be distinguished from its closest relative -- the
yellow-breasted brush finch -- by its solid black back and the lack of white
marks on its wings.

''There are about two to three new birds found in the world every year,''
Thomas Donegan, the British half of an Anglo-Colombian research duo who
discovered the bird in January 2004, told The Associated Press on Monday.
''It's a very rare event.''

To access the bird's isolated habitat, Donegan and partner Blanca Huertas
regularly hiked 12 hours into the nearly impenetrable jungle, depending on
helicopters to drop off supplies at mountain peaks 10,000 feet above sea
level.

''We first went to Yariguies about three years ago,'' Donegan said. ''It's a
huge patch of isolated forest that no one knew about, not even in
Colombia.''

The new finch, the size of a fist, is native to Colombia's eastern Andean
range and considered by its discoverers to be near threatened and in need of
close monitoring to prevent it from becoming endangered.

One of the two birds caught by the team was released unharmed after they
took pictures and DNA samples, while the other died in captivity.

Donegan said this was one of the first time researchers were able to confirm
a new bird without having to kill it.

The last new bird discovery in Colombia was a Tapaculos species found in the
south last year.

With as many as 1,865 different species, Colombia has long been considered a
bird watchers' paradise, albeit a risky one because of the country's
four-decade-old civil war.

In 1998, rebels kidnapped four American bird watchers who were later found
unharmed. 

 

See a photo of the bird at
http://politics.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061010/ap_on_sc/colombia_bird_discovery_9

 

Chuck Nicholson

Norris, TN

 



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[TN-Bird] New Bird Described From Columbia

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