L’Atlapetes à tête blanche n’a pas disparu !

The Pale-headed Brush-finch Atlapetes pallidiceps is endemic to the Río Jubones drainage in southern Ecuador, where it was last recorded in 1969. Its habitat preferences were unknown. Because several recent attempts by skilled observers to locate it had failed, the species was considered possibly extinct by Collar et al., who summarised all available information on the species. On a CECIA (Ecuador’s ornithological society) expedition in search of the species on 10-24 November 1998, the authors rediscovered a tiny population at 1,650-1,800 m elevation in the Yunguilla Valley in Azuay. Four pairs were found, and the present extent of habitat might allow for another five pairs to occur in the same area.
During a second visit to the area, on 3-4 December by Niels Krabbe and Francisco Sornoza, one pair was found at a hacienda 1 km away, where the extent of the habitat might allow a maximum of five pairs to occur. The intervening area probably holds 1-2 pairs. The arid scrub in which the species was located primarily differed from several other such areas where the species was not found during this and earlier searches, by being ungrazed by cattle and goats. The widespread habitat degradation throughout the Río Jubones drainage, as well as the many unsuccessful searches for the brush-finch, renders it probable that the rediscovery site holds the only surviving population.