Dusky Starfrontlet (Coeligena orina)

The Dusky Starfrontlet (Coeligena orina) is a hummingbird species in the subfamily Trochilinae. It is found only at high altitudes in the Cordillera Occidental of Colombia, and was first discovered on Páramo de Frontino.  Its status was mysterious for a long time as it was only known from a few museum specimens; it was often held to be a mutant or color morph of some other species of Coeligena. When it was rediscovered in 2004, in what is now the Colibri del Sol Bird Reserve, its status as a distinct species was confirmed.

.

This species has a very restricted range, being known from two tiny forest fragments at Páramo Frontino and Farallones del Citará in north-west Colombia. There are only five other localities in the entire western Andes that retain suitable habitat. The combined area of all potentially suitable sites is thought to be less than 25 km2. Therefore, the species’s global population is unlikely to exceed 250 individuals.

Getting to Colombia is easy with airline miles.  Since Colombia is in the northern South America region with Peru, please see this post for details on how many miles you would need.  The main airport, Bogota is well served by both Star Alliance (Avianca, Copa, United, Lufthansa, Air Canada) and One World (American, LAN, Iberia).

.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

American Bird Conservancy

Birdlife

Wikipedia

ECO-TOUR OPERATORS

Colombia Birding

Colibri del Sol Bird Reserve

MINI-DOCUMENTARY VIDEO

This video has a fund raising campaign where you can buy 1 acre of land to donate to bird conservation for $100.