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Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006
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Colours of a bird

Threatened finch from Andean forest

Yariguies brush-finch

Bogota: A colourful bird new to science has been discovered in a previously unexplored Andean cloud forest, spurring efforts to protect the area, conservation groups announced.

The bright yellow and red-crowned Yariguies brush-finch was named for the indigenous tribe that once inhabited the mountainous area where it was discovered and which committed mass suicide instead of submitting to Spanish colonial rule.

For conservationists, the discovery of the species came at a crucial time. Thanks in part to the discovery, the Government has decided to set aside 500 acres of the pristine cloud forest where it lives to create a national park.

"The bird was discovered in what is the last remnants of cloud forest in that region," Camila Gomez, of the Colombia conservation group ProAves, said. "There are still lots of undiscovered flora and fauna species that live in the area." The small bird can be distinguished from its closest relative by its solid black back and the lack of white marks on its wings.

"There are about two new birds found in the world every year," Thomas Donegan, the British half of an Anglo-Colombian research duo, which discovered the bird, said. "It's a very rare event."

To access the bird's isolated habitat, Mr. Donegan and partner Blanca Huertas regularly hiked 12 hours into the nearly impenetrable jungle, depending on helicopters to drop off supplies at mountain peaks 3,050 metres above sea level.

The new finch, the size of a fist, is native to Colombia's eastern Andean range and considered by its discoverers to be near-threatened. — AP

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