Amazon Alive: A Decade of Discoveries 1999-2009 - WWF

Birds
16new bird species
A total of 16 new bird species have been discovered in the Amazon in the past
10 years. The new avian additions to the region span a diverse range of bird
families and include the discovery of a raptor from southern Amazonia. The
cryptic forest-falcon (Micrastur mintoni) was discovered in 2002 49 . This
Brazilian species has bright orange skin around its eyes. The overall
population of the falcon is presumed to be large, given its wide range. But little
is generally known about this new species.
In 2007, a new bird was described from the Peruvian Amazon 50 . The rufous
twistwing (Cnipodectes superrufus) displays a multitude of red-brown
variations. Despite extensive ornithological research in the south-eastern
region of Madre de Dios, this species had escaped notice, largely because of
its inaccessible natural habitat: it is restricted to thickets of thorny 5m-tall
bamboo (Guadua weberbaueri), a habitat poorly surveyed in Amazonia.
Originally only known from a few sites in Madre de Dios and a neighbouring
region, the known distribution of the bird was later extended from 3,400
to 89,000 sq km of Guadua-dominated forest across Madre de Dios (Peru),
Pando (Bolivia) and Acre (Brazil). The former includes Manu National Park 51 .
According to scientists, the rufous twistwing is probably the least abundant of
all bamboo specialists in Amazonia. The risk of extinction in the short term is
low, but recent development projects, including the paving of the Interoceanic
highway, will increase human settlement and habitat destruction in the
region 52,53 . In addition, the socioeconomic value of large bamboos and the
increasing tendency to harvest them 54 suggest the extent of suitable habitat for
the species may decline in the future.
Already considered critically endangered is the Iquitos gnatcatcher (Polioptila
clementsi), discovered in 2005 55 . Also from the Peruvian Amazon, this new
bird was discovered in the Reserva Nacional Allpahuayo-Mishana, just west of
Iquitos, in the Loreto region of Peru. It is a rare sight in the white-sand forest it
inhabits. Surveys of available habitat within the reserve have only located 15
pairs. And since its discovery, the species has apparently become more difficult
to locate year on year. Today the species is at real risk of extinction, owing to
an extremely small range and population, and deforestation in the zone.
Available habitat continues to be threatened by clearance for agriculture,
facilitated by government incentives to encourage colonisation of land
surrounding Iquitos; and logging of forest within a national reserve, for
construction, fuelwood and charcoal 56 . The ancient and slow-growing varillal
forests, prime habitat of Polioptila clementsi, occur on especially nutrient-poor,
quartzitic soils, and may never be able to regenerate if destroyed 57 .
Amazonian forests growing on white sand and other nutrient-poor soils hold
many ornithological surprises. A few years earlier, in 2001, another new
species, the mishana tyrannulet (Zimmerius villarejoi) was described, again
from the white-sand varillal forest near Iquitos, in the Loreto region of Peru 58 .
Among the many birds of the Amazon, parrots are often the most spectacular
in colour. The bald parrot (Pyrilia aurantiocephala, originally known as
Pionopsitta aurantiocephala), a member of the true parrot family, caused a
sensation when it was described in 2002 59 , mainly because it is hard to believe
that such a large and colourful bird could have escaped the notice of the world.
As its name suggests, the species has an extraordinary bald head, devoid of
plumage, but is otherwise a strikingly colourful bird. It displays an extraordinary
spectrum of colour, from an “intensely orange-coloured head” 60 , to yellowgreen
nape, parrot green body with wings of green, suffused with ultramarine
blue, cyan, orange-yellow, emerald green and scarlet, and feet of orangeyellow.
The parrot is known only from a few localities in the Lower Madeira and Upper
Tapajós rivers in Amazonian Brazil. It is currently known only from two habitat
types and from a relatively small area. This population of birds is currently
under threat from logging; scientists point out that although the region in which
they collected specimens of Pionopsitta aurantiocephala is currently
economically managed through environmental tourism, nearby regions around
the headwaters of the Tapajós river and the entire southern fringe of Amazonia
are constantly threatened by the destructive activities of logging companies 61 .
24 amazon alive! I a decade of discovery 1999-2009