Behold the Gorgeted Puffleg
Published on 15 May 2007 at 12:45 am.
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Filed under Birds, Wildlife.
Ornithologists Alexander Cortés-Diago and Luis Alfonso Ortega recently announced the discovery of a new hummingbird in the cloud forests in the Serrania del Pinche in south-west Colombia. The bird was sighted three times during surveys of the region in 2005.
Surveys in 2006 yielded photographs of the bird, which enabled scientists at the International Bird Conservation/Zoological Research Museum in Germany to identify the bird as a new species.
The hummingbird, which has been named the Gorgeted Puffleg Eriocnemis isabellae, is named for the iridescent throat patch (after gorget which was a crescent-shaped piece of ornamental armor worn around the neck) and the puffy feathers around its legs.
Currently Serrania del Pinche, the habitat of the Gorgeted Puffleg, is unprotected and is being threatened by slash-and-burn agriculutre and growing coca fields.
Kevin Knuth
Albany NY
