Students rediscover Indigo-winged Parrot in Colombia

[Monica]

Student Award winners rediscover Indigo-winged Parrot in Colombia
20-08-2002


Indigo-winged parrots, considered one of the world's rarest birds, have been rediscovered in central Colombia this July by a team of young ornithologists who won a Gold Award in this year's BP Conservation Programme - a partnership of BP, BirdLife International and Fauna and Flora International. This is the first concrete evidence of the continued existence of the species for 91 years. Colombians Jorge Velasquez and Alonso Quevedo discovered a flock of fourteen parrots on 28 July 2002 as they climbed to 3,000 metres exploring the highest Andean volcano in central Colombia.

The Indigo-winged or Fuertes's parrot (Hapalopsittaca fuertesi) was first discovered in the Central Andes mountain range in 1911, but nothing is known of the parrots' breeding and feeding ecology. It is considered to be very rare by BirdLife International and is classified as 'Critically Endangered'.

Jorge Velasquez, 20, leader of the Proyecto Hapalopsittaca, recalled how after months of unsuccessful searches in the Andean montane forests, he and Alonso Quevedo heard the parrots for the first time: 'Suddenly, a parrot's sharp cry pierced the gloom of the cloudy forest, and was immediately joined by a chorus of other birds in the mist. The ghostly silhouettes of fourteen parrots spiralled downwards to alight in the trees nearby. In those few seconds, brilliant flashes of emerald greens, cobalt blues and scarlet reds flashed before us and we thought we were witnessing a miracle from heaven, as one of the world's rarest birds descended before our very eyes.'







To read more about these parrots that have been rediscovered in 2002, check out the following site: Indigo-winged Parrot of Colombia