Description d’une nouvelle espèce de colibri, l’Érione d’Isabella

A new species of hummingbird, called the Gorgeted Puffleg Eriocnemis isabellae, has been discovered in Colombia. But there are concerns over its future safety because the Serrania del Pinche mountains where it was discovered are unprotected. Ornithologists Alexander Cortés-Diago and Luis Alfonso Ortega made three sightings of the new hummingbird during surveys in 2005 of montane cloud forest in the Serrania del Pinche, south-west Colombia.
The highly distinct new species is characterised by an enlarged, bicoloured iridescent throat patch (hence ‘Gorgeted’) in males and white tufts above the legs which are characteristic of ‘Puffleg’ hummingbirds. The finding is reported in the latest journal of Ornitologia Neotropical (May 2007).