Colombia is a land of birds, many of this biodiversity is little known, which allows new discoveries of species every year, and when it is a bird, it becomes even more special.

We want to introduce you the new endemic species to Colombia.

It was baptized with the name of Chamí Antpitta, is distributed in the western mountain range, from the north of Antioquia to the south of Cauca, in the peaks of the Paramillo National Natural Park, at a height that ranges between 2,350 and 3,650 meters above sea level.

The scientific name Grallaria alvarezi, is honors Colombian ornithologist Mauricio Álvarez Rebolledo, who led several biological expeditions during the peak of political instability of the 1990s and early 2000s in Colombia, while playing an important role in conservation and education. Mauricio pioneered avian sound recording in the country, establishing the Colección de Sonidos Ambientales at Instituto Alexander von Humboldt. The English name honors the “people of the mountains,” the Emberá-Chamí indigenous community inhabits the slopes of northern Western Andes of Colombia. Chamí means mountain, and Tatamá, the name of the type locality, means “the grandfather of the rivers” in Emberá language.

Authors of the base paper for this split explain that: “Conservative plumage masks extraordinary phylogenetic diversity”, Alejandro Pinto, guide for Manakin Nature Tours said: this means,  that birds with cryptic plumage may be misclassified as the same species; the Rufous Antpitta complex for several years was a target for ornithologists, the vocal differences, distribution and in some cases difference in plumage made them think that tthe sub-species of this Antpitta could be something different, finally based on genetic studies we can understand the complexity within what we consider to be a single species and realize the cryptic plumages of this and other bird species has remained unchanged, even facing a phylogenetic diversification. for us as a birdwatchers some differences were evident in the field, but a genetic assessment is necessary to  fully understand the differences and also to realize how cryptic plumage play an important role for species successful through the time and evolution, now is time to do some birding and watch this new species at the field.

Cristian Daza, guide of Manakin Nature Tours said:, today we can have the opportunity to see all the species of Rufous Antpitta complex in Colombia, it shows how big our birds biodiversity is and phylogeny studies may show new species for our country. It is excited us and shows how important it is to conserve our biodiversity and forests

For Luis Urenã, Colombia is full of things to discover, it is exciting to know that any day you could be the descriptor of a new species for science, that there are so many places in this country to visit that each expedition to the field becomes even more interesting than the last; that we have so many animal and plant species, that in fact I am honored to live in the most biodiverse country in the world, it is truly magical and even more fantastic, to be able to share with you the wonders of my country, that’s why I invite you to meet or come back to this beautiful land, to a place where you have not come before and to be treated well, as we Colombians do.

So we present another very special reason to visit Colombia, We will wait for you!

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