Graeme Green (Guardian) reports on the rediscovery of a rare hummingbird: “Birdwatcher [Yurgen Vega] ‘Overcome with emotion’ when I saw the Santa Marta sabre, only the third time it has been documented. Very exciting news!
A rare hummingbird has been rediscovered by a bird watcher in Colombia after being missing for more than a decade.
The Sabrewing Santa Marta, a large hummingbird found only in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, was last seen in 2010, and scientists feared the species may have become extinct as the rainforest it inhabited has been largely cleared for agriculture. .
But ornithologists are celebrating the rediscovery of Campylopterus phainopeplus after an experienced local bird watcher caught one on camera. It is only the third time the species has been documented: the first was in 1946 and the second in 2010, when researchers captured the first photos of the species in the wild.
Yurgen Vega, who spotted the hummingbird while working with conservation organizations Selva, ProCAT Colombia and the World Parrot Trust to monitor endemic birds in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, said he felt “overwhelmed with emotion” when he saw the bird. “The viewing was a complete surprise,” he said. “When I first saw the hummingbird, I immediately thought of the Santa Marta sawmill. I couldn’t believe he was there waiting for me to pull out my camera and start shooting. I was almost convinced it was the type, but as I felt so overcome with emotion, I preferred to be cautious; it may have been the Lazuline saw, which is often confused with the Santa Marta sabrering. But once we saw the pictures, we knew it was real.”
The Santa Marta Sabrewing is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and features on the Top 10 “Most Wanted” list in conservation organization Re:wild’s Search for Lost Birds, a worldwide effort to find species that have not been seen for more than 10 years. The bird is so rare and elusive that John C Mittermeier, director of threatened species outreach at the American Bird Conservancy, likened the sighting to “seeing a ghost.”
The Vega pa hummingbird was a male, identified by its emerald green plumage, bright blue throat and curved black bill. She was perched on a branch, vocalizing and singing, behavior scientists think is related to courtship and territorial defense.
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia is home to a wealth of wildlife, including 24 species of birds found nowhere else. But scientists estimate that only 15% of the mountain forests are intact. It is hoped that the surprise sighting of the Santa Marta saber will help protect their remaining habitat, benefiting the many different species found there.
“This discovery confirms that we still know very little about many of the most vulnerable and rare species out there, and it is imperative to invest more to better understand them,” said Esteban Botero-Delgadillo, director of science at preservation with Selva: Research. for Conservation in the Neotropics. “It’s knowledge that drives action and change – we can’t preserve what we don’t understand. The next step is to get out there and look for stable populations of this species, trying to better understand where it occurs and what the most critical threats are in the country. Of course, this needs to involve people from local communities and local and regional environmental authorities, so that together we can start a program of research and conservation that can have real impact.”
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/05/rare-hummingbird-rediscovered-colombia-age-of-extinction
[Photograph above by Yurgen Vega/Selva/ProCAT. The rediscovered Santa Marta sabrewing. It is only the third time the species has been documented: the first was in 1946 and the second in 2010.]
