Colorful Puffleg Eriocnemis mirabilis Scientific name definitions

The Critically Endangered Colorful Puffleg is confined to a tiny number of lower-montane forest localities on the west slope of the West Andes in Colombia. It is a strikingly beautiful hummingbird. The male has a glittering green frontlet and gorget, a blue belly, and red and coppery-gold undertail-coverts, with large white leg ‘puffs’ fringed in cinnamon. The upperside of the forked tail is bronzy, while the underside is coppery-gold. In contrast, the female is dark shining green above with a white median throat and underparts, and indistinct reddish, golden, and bluish spots on belly, flanks and undertail. The bronze-green tail is tipped blackish and the leg ‘puffs’ are much smaller. Because of the relatively small number of certain field observations of this undoubtedly rare bird, very little is known of the species’ biology and behavior, although it seems to feed in both the understory and at mid levels.

8–9 cm. Bill straight, blackish; feet pink; the very large leg puffs are white with cinnamon tips in both sexes. Male dark shining green above with a glittering emerald-green frontlet; underparts very colourful with an iridescent green gorget, glittering indigo-blue belly, and glittering red and coppery undertail-coverts; tail forked, dark bronzy green, underside of rectrices strongly shining golden bronzy green. Female mainly white below, with green discs on sides of throat and breast, and reddish-bronze discs on flanks and sides of belly. Juvenile probably similar to female.

W slope of W Andes of Colombia (Cauca), mainly in Munchique National Park and Serranía del Pinche.

Wet forest and forest borders in subtropical zones at elevations of 2200–2440 m. Undisturbed cloudforest is preferred, but the species has also been observed at forest edges and small clearings. The habitat is characterized mainly by Billia colombiana, Clusia, Persea, Hyeronima colombiana, Quercus humboldtii and Weinmannia pubescens.

Sedentary.

Feeds at heights of 2–4 m above ground. Foodplants include Tillandsia delicatula, Clusia coremandra, Clusia sp., Antopterus oliganthus, Cavendishia bracteata, Psammisia columbiensis, Besleria quadrangulata, Elleanthus aurantiacus and Palicourea killipii (1 López-Ordoñez, J.P., Páez-Ortiz, C.A., Sandoval-Sierra, J.V. and Salaman. P. (2008). Una segunda localidad para Eriocnemis mirabilis en la Cordillera Occidental de Colombia. Cotinga. 29: 77-79. Close ).

Poorly known. Presumed song a repeated single metallic short note “tsit”, at a rate of c. 1·5–2 notes/second.

Since this species was discovered only recently, breeding remains unknown.

ENDANGERED. CITES II. Restricted-range species: present in Chocó EBA. Until recently, only known from the area around the type locality, Cerro Charguayaco, NE of Cerro Munchique on Pacific slope of W Andes in Cauca. Rediscovered there (at El Planchón) in 1997 (2 Salaman, P.G.W. and Mazariegos, L.A. (1998). Colibríes de Colombia. Bol. Soc. Antioqueña Orn.. 9(16–17): 18–20. Close ). It has since been found c. 7 km S of the type locality on Cerro El Observatorio (3 López-Ordóñez, J. P., J. O. Cortés-Herrera, C. A. Paez-Ortíz, and M. F. González-Rojas (2013). Nuevos registros y comentarios sobre la distribución de algunas especies de aves en los Andes Occidentales de Colombia. Ornitología Colombiana 13:21–36. Close ), c. 20 km S of it in the Aves Mirabilis Swarovski Nature Reserve (1 López-Ordoñez, J.P., Páez-Ortiz, C.A., Sandoval-Sierra, J.V. and Salaman. P. (2008). Una segunda localidad para Eriocnemis mirabilis en la Cordillera Occidental de Colombia. Cotinga. 29: 77-79. Close ), and c. 30 km S of the type locality in the Serranía del Pinche (4 Cortés-Diago, A., Ortega, L.A., Mazariegos-Hurtado, L. and Weller, A.A. (2007). A new species of Eriocnemis (Trochilidae) from southwest Colombia. Orn. Neotropical. 18(2): 161–170. Close ). It is therefore known from four localities within a total range estimated to cover 680 km² BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Eriocnemis mirabilis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/12/2017. . Deforestation remains a threat, even within protected areas (1 López-Ordoñez, J.P., Páez-Ortiz, C.A., Sandoval-Sierra, J.V. and Salaman. P. (2008). Una segunda localidad para Eriocnemis mirabilis en la Cordillera Occidental de Colombia. Cotinga. 29: 77-79. Close ). Considered Vulnerable until 2000, its extremely small range, which is presumably contracting, led to reclassification as Critically Endangered in 2000 BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Eriocnemis mirabilis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/12/2017. ; however, a re-evaluation of its range size using a Minimum Convex Polygon in 2017 triggered downlisting to Endangered. Likewise, formerly considered Critically Endangered in Colombia (5 Renjifo, L. M., A. M. Franco-Maya, J. D. Amaya-Espinel, G. H. Kattan, and B. López-Lanús, Editors (2002). Libro Rojo de Aves de Colombia. Serie Libros Rojos de Especies Amenazadas de Colombia. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt & Ministerio del Medio Ambiente, Bogotá, Colombia. In Spanish. Close ) it is now assessed as nationally Endangered (6 Renjifo, L. M., M. F. Gómez, J. Velásquez-Tibatá, A. M. Amaya-Villarreal, G. H. Kattan, J. D. Amaya-Espinel, and J. Burbano-Girón, Editors (2014). Libro Rojo de Aves de Colombia, Volume I: bosques húmedos de los Andes y la costa Pacífica. Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana & Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá D.C., Colombia. Close ). Its known distribution lies within the Munchique National Park (440 km²) and the private Aves Mirabilis Swarovski Nature Reserve (1900 ha) and close to Los Tambitos Nature Reserve, where it might also occur. For an accurate assessment of its present conservation status, more data required on the exact range and ecological requirements of the species.