First Published Photos of Recurve-billed Bushbird and Perijá Parakeet

Recurve-billed Bushbird. Photo: Luis Eduardo Uruena, Fundacion ProAves

The Recurve-billed Bushbird remained unseen between 1965 and 2004 due to its small range and the remoteness of its habitats, until it was rediscovered recently in Venezuela and in Norte de Santander, Colombia, where this photo was taken. The bushbird inhabits dense bamboo stands in the dry cloud forest, and has been seen splitting bamboo stems with its axe-like beak to extract grubs. This and several other little-known endemics occur in relict dry cloud forest patches on the crests of Andean mountains. Deforestation and wildfires set for agriculture and grazing have devastated these forests, resulting in a denuded and eroded landscape.

Very little is known about the Perijá Parakeet, other than that it is exceptionally rare. Found only in a tiny area in the Andes of Colombia, it is threatened by habitat disturbance and loss, and potentially by the illegal bird trade.

Photographs of the Recurve-billed Bushbird were taken in 2004 by Chris Sharpe during an expedition to the Venezuelan foothills of Sierra de Perijá. This expedition, which included ornithologists Miguel Lentino, Jorge Perez-Eman, and Irving Carreño, was organized by the Venezuela Audubon Society and the Phelps Ornithological Collection, and sponsored by Conservation International.