NeoBird2-070713.qxp 7/13/2007 2:06 PM Page 83

>> PHOTOSPOT BEARDED MOUNTAINEER Bearded Mountaineer Oreonympha nobilis Joseph Tobias

ot so long ago a photograph of a Bearded yellow flowers of tobacco , Agave, Helmetcrest Oxypogon guerinii was posted columnar cactuses, and Eucalyptus2. It hovers with Non the internet (at www.surfbirds.com), its body held almost vertical when foraging. The accompanied by a succinct caption: “The best photographs that accompany this article are of the looking hummer in the world?” Maybe so, but that nominate race. The northern form, albolimbata, sounds like a question for a broader ballot. There has a deep chestnut cap which is bordered with is some serious competition out there, with the white. likes of Velvet-purple Coronet Boissonneaua The global range of the mountaineer is small jardini, Empress Brilliant imperatrix (some 39,000 km2), centred on the region of Cusco and Marvellous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis in the high Andes of southern Peru. The classic (for which see the photograph on p56 of this site for seeing the species is Laguna Huacarpay, magazine) heading some private lists of favourites. half an hour’s drive from Cusco itself. It frequents One contender, a relative of the Bearded the tobacco bushes that line the road around this Helmetcrest, is the subject of this photospot—the lake, with a favoured area being the garden of the Bearded Mountaineer Oreonympha nobilis. small hostel at the far shore of the lake. A bend or The mountaineer is a majestic , a large, two further, in a clockwise direction, is a nice area unmistakable with a white-sided tail of roadside tobacco bushes where nice views are and an iridescent bicolored gorget, emerald green virtually guaranteed, and where these photographs at the base, extending down onto the breast in a were taken. This species makes Laguna Huacarpay spear of amethyst. The sides of the crown are an unmissable stop on the road to Manu National glistening blue, separated by a median line of Park. black. This elaborate plumage is clearly intended “The best hummer in the world?” There are for head-on courtship or combat, and is much less quite a few contenders, but the Bearded dramatic when viewed side-on. Mountaineer—a bold little warrior from the valley The mountaineer is a restricted-range species, of the Incas—is certainly amongst them. endemic to the Peruvian High Andes Endemic Area, occurring at 2,500–3,700 m in arid REFERENCES montane scrub and woodland3. It is classified as 1. BirdLife International (2006) Species factsheet: Least Concern1 because it is fairly common in Oreonympha nobilis. Downloaded from several areas, persisting even where habitat is http://www.birdlife.org on 2/4/2007. degraded. 2. Clements, J.F. & Shany, N. (2001) A field guide to the The species probably nests in ravines and of Peru. Temecula, USA: Ibis Publishing gorges. Its favoured feeding plants include the Company. 3. Stattersfield, A.J., Crosby, M.J., Long, A.J. & Wege, D. C. (1998) Endemic Bird Areas of the world: priorities for biodiversity conservation. Cambridge, UK: ~ BirdLife International. “There are quite a few contenders for ‘best hummer JOSEPH TOBIAS Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, South in the world’, but the Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK. E-mail: Bearded Mountaineer [email protected] is certainly amongst~ them.”

Neotropical Birding 2007 83 NeoBird2-070713.qxp 7/13/2007 2:06 PM Page 84

>> PHOTOSPOT BEARDED MOUNTAINEER

84 Neotropical Birding 2007 NeoBird2-070713.qxp 7/13/2007 2:06 PM Page 85

Bearded Mountaineer Oreonympha nobilis, Laguna Huacarpay, Peru, January 2007 (Joseph Tobias) Neotropical Birding 2007 85