Venezuelan Flowerpiercer Diglossa venezuelensis Scientific name definitions

The male Venezuelan Flowerpiercer is basically black with a small white tuft on the flanks, whilst the female is olive-brown above with a yellowish-olive head and buffy-brown underparts. Considered to be globally Endangered given an incredible paucity of modern records, despite having been common in the first part of the 20th century, the Venezuelan Flowerpiercer is endemic to the northeast corner of the country. It inhabits montane, evergreen forest edge, secondary forest, and second-growth scrub, at elevations of 1525–2450 m on the Cordillera de Caripe, and lower altitudes on the nearby Paria Peninsula. Some authorities have speculated that the species might perform seasonal movements, and it is also possible that the Venezuelan Flowerpiercer possesses some highly specialist microhabitat requirement, yet to be determined.

NE Venezuela: Cordillera de Caripe, in N Sucre (from E slope of Cerro Peonía E to Cerro Turumiquire, on Monagas border); also slopes of Cerro Negro (on Sucre–Monagas border), and Cerro Humo (Paria Peninsula).

Borders of humid montane forest, also young to older second growth and shrubby and bushy areas adjacent to forest. At 1525–2450 m in Turimiquire Massif; 1675–1775 m on Cerro Negro; sightings down to 885 m at Melenas, on Paria Peninsula.

ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in Caripe-Paria Region EBA. Very local; declining. Known only from a small number of localities in Turimiquire Massif and Paria Peninsula in extreme NE Venezuela. A fairly large number of specimens were taken from Cerro Turimiquire as recently as 1963, but the number of sightings since that time is small. Two six-week ornithological expeditions to the Paria Peninsula (Cerro Humo, 1994 (1 Evans, K., King, R., Calvert, N., Brunton, D. and Jolles, A. (1994). Paria Peninsula '94: Final Report. An Oxford University Ornithological Expedition to Venezuela. Oxford University, Oxford. Close ), and Cerro El Olvido, 1988 (2 Bond, R., P. Convey, C. Sharpe, and A. Varey (1989). Cambridge Columbus zoological expedition to Venezuela 1988. Unpublished report for the Cambridge Expeditions Committee, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Close ) ) during wet season failed to find the species. Recent sightings (post-2000), involving only a handful of birds, come from only three localities: Quiriquire ("Piedra 'e Mole'") in Serranía de Turimiquire, Cerro Negro in Cordillera de Caripe and Cerro Humo in Paria Peninsula. Known to occur in Paria Peninsula (IUCN Cat. II; 375 km²) and El Guácharo (IUCN Cat. II; 627 km²) National Parks. However, legal enforcement and management are lacking in both parks; for example, in Paria Peninsula, there are only two or three park guards, no vehicles or boats, a minimal budget and little political support (3 Sharpe, C.J. (2001). Situación Ambiental del Parque Nacional Península de Paria. Fundación Tierra Viva, Caracas. Close , 4 Castillo, R. and Salas, V. (2005). Estado de conservación del Parque Nacional Península de Paria. BioParques, Caracas, Venezuela. Close ). Widespread deforestation for agriculture and cattle pastures evident in Cordillera de Caripe, and extensive forest damage taking place even in El Guácharo National Park. Most of Cerro Negro (within park boundaries) now completely denuded or devoted to shade coffee plantations. In Serranía de Turimiquire, deforestation for coffee, bananas, mango and citrus is occurring, although considerable intact forest still present; largest remaining forest block (Piedra 'e Mole') measures c. 80 km² (5 Azpúrua, J.C., Hernández, L.L., Miranda, J.E. and Pérez-Emán, J.L. (2013). Status of the Grey-headed Warbler (Basileuterus griseiceps, Parulidae), an endemic and threatened species from north-eastern Venezuela. Orn. Neotropical. 24(4): 445–457. Close ). Cerro Humo faces similar forest degradation and uncontrolled burning. Use of home-made shotguns by adult hunters and catapults by children is widespread and common in Paria Peninsula. Extent to which this species is able to survive in areas of regrowth vegetation or in coffee plantations, which increasingly threaten to overwhelm almost all of the native forest remaining in its range, is not known. Other members of its genus tend to thrive, or at least survive, in cultivated areas and gardens with flowers, even in settled areas, but that seems not to be the case with present species and an assessment of its habitat requirements is needed urgently. A recent paved road from Güiria to tip of Paria Peninsula (at Macuro) will almost certainly lead to loss of habitat as human settlement follows. A proposed gas pipeline over Paria Peninsula, running from gas fields on N shore to cryogenics facilities on S shore, represents an additional serious threat (3 Sharpe, C.J. (2001). Situación Ambiental del Parque Nacional Península de Paria. Fundación Tierra Viva, Caracas. Close , 4 Castillo, R. and Salas, V. (2005). Estado de conservación del Parque Nacional Península de Paria. BioParques, Caracas, Venezuela. Close ). Considered Endangered at the national level in Venezuela (6 Sharpe, C. J. (2008). Aves. In Libro Rojo de la Fauna Venezolana. Terca edición (J. P. Rodríguez and F. Rojas-Suárez, Editors). Provita and Shell Venezuela, S. A., Caracas, Venezuela. pp. 122–157. Close ).