As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday, 2 October 2014

Newly discovered Brazilian bird species is endangered

A new birds species found in a narrow strip in the Atlantic Forest on the northeastern state of Bahia, Brazil, has already been reported as endangered. 

The bird is locally called ‘macuquinho-preto-baiano’, and has been catalogued under the scientific name Scytalopus gonzagai, and has also been given the common name of the mouse-coloured tapaculo. 

The bird was identified as a new species by an international team of ornithologists led by Dr Marcos Bornschein, and was initially thought by the researchers to be a common species found in south and southeast Brazil, but two expeditions in 2004 and 2006 made it possible for them to investigate further in the region of Bahia and ascertain that the species was indeed new. 

The small mouse-coloured tapaculo – which measures just 12cm in length and weighs in at an average of 15g – was quickly listed as an endangered species, as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) stipulates that if a species totals up between 2,500 to 10,000 individuals, it is endangered. Calculations undertaken by the team found that there were around 2,888 of the newly discovered tapaculo. 

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