Dusky Starfrontlet Rediscovered in the Western Andes

Photo: Fundación ProAves

When top Andean ornithologist, Dr Niels Krabbe of the University of Copenhagen beams from ear to ear and boasts it was the best two weeks birding of his life…you know he’s been to a very special place for birds. He had just returned from Páramo Frontino in northwest Colombia — the largest untouched highland grassland area on the 680 mile long Western Cordillera of the Andes.

Back in 1951, ornithologist Melbourne Carriker collected a new species of hummingbird from Páramo Frontino and named it the Dusky Starfrontlet, but it promptly fell into obscurity, and in 1988 scientists suggested that it was not a full species. No ornithologists visited the area for more than 50 years, until August 2004, when ABC’s Colombian partner, Fundación ProAves, launched an expedition there led by Niels Krabbe. They immediately observed, caught, and photographed a Dusky Starfrontlet and proved that this bird was not only a valid species, but is very distinctive!

The Dusky Starfrontlet was not the only surprise…of a further 154 bird species seen, researchers recorded the globally threatened Rusty-faced Parrot (first record for the Western Cordillera), Moustached Antpitta, and Chestnut-bellied Flower-piercer. Two bird species new to science were also discovered, and will be described in future publications.

Páramo Frontino is wholly unprotected and privately owned, and has already suffered considerable habitat conversion in recent years. The area also contains dense high-grade gold, zinc, and copper deposits that have attracted the attention of mining companies.

The range of the Dusky Starfrontlet may encompass no more than 1,000 acres, and ABC has recently purchased the core part of its range to help protect the species. Additional areas need to be acquired however, and funds are still urgently needed to set up infrastructure for a Dusky Starfrontlet Bird Reserve, and to help long-term management of the site.

To learn more about this area or to make a donation, contact American Bird Conservancy or 540–253–5780.