Chestnut-bellied Cotinga Doliornis remseni Scientific name definitions

The Chestnut-bellied Cotinga was only discovered as recently as 1989, but appears to be fairly widespread, albeit rare and local, in the Andes of northern Peru, Ecuador, and southern Colombia. It closely resembles the Bay-vented Cotinga (Doliornis sclateri) of central and northern Peru, but has a darker head, richer but rufous on the underparts, and a paler eye. Like that species, it occurs in short, scrubby elfin cloud forest near treeline, where it appears to feed largely on fruit. The Chestnut-bellied Cotinga is poorly known, and lack of data on its population status, combined with destruction of its preferred habitat, is a conservation concern.

21·5 cm; male 58·5–72 g, one female 64 g. Male has black top of head , dark orange-red nuchal crest (usually concealed or mostly so); rest of head dark grey, upperparts darker, blackish; breast dark greyish, rest of underparts rich rufous-chestnut; iris dark red-brown; bill slate-grey to black; legs dark grey to black. Distinguished from similar D. sclateri by darker head, rich rufous-chestnut lower underparts. Female differs from male in having extensive grey feather fringes on head. Immature is like adult.

Locally in C Andes of Colombia (Quindío) and E Andes of Ecuador (SE Carchi to Zamora-Chinchipe); no records but likely to occur in N Peru (3 Jiguet, F., Barbet-Massin, M. and Henry, P.Y. (2010). Predicting potential distributions of two rare allopatric sister species, the globally threatened Doliornis cotingas in the Andes. J. Field Orn. 81(4): 325–339. Close ).

Stunted woodland at or near tree-line; 2875–3650 m, mostly above 3100 m.

Poorly known, but few existing recordings are almost identical to D. sclateri, a raspy single overslurred note 'rrreh'  , repeated at intervals.

VULNERABLE. Restricted-range species: present in Central Andean Páramo EBA. First discovered in 1989; currently known from some 10–14 localities, two in Colombia (4 Renjifo, L.M. (2014). Doliornis remseni. Pp. 246-250 in:. Close ) and at least eight in Ecuador. Reported as occurring in extreme N Peru, in Cordillera Las Lagunillas, but that range is in extreme S Ecuador; not yet recorded from Peru, though likely to occur there. Rare and extremely local. No hard population data, but population probably small; global numbers estimated to be fewer than 15,000 individuals BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Doliornis remseni. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 10/08/2015. , with a moderate population decline suspected based on rates of habitat loss and degradation. In Colombia, 0·3 individuals/10 km in transect counts, translating to 3 individuals/km² (5 Renjifo, L.M. (2002). Doliornis remseni. Pp. 351-353 in:. Close ). Species’ preferred habitat highly fragmented, as large areas of suitably dense thickets already destroyed. In Colombia, over 48% of original habitat has been lost (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 ). Habitat loss and degradation continuing, mainly through uncontrolled burning; grazing, firewood-gathering and cultivation are further threats. Occurs in Cañón del Quindío National Park, in Colombia, and Podocarpus National Park and Guandera Biological Reserve, in Ecuador, but other sites have no protection at all. Extensive further field investigation required in order to gain more accurate information on this species’ precise distribution and status.