Species Action Plan BLACK-BREASTED PUFFLEG Eriocnemis nigrivestis Olaf Jahn Tatiana Santander Edited by Rob P. Clay A PUBLICATION OF: Copyright © 2008 Aves & Conservación Pasaje Joaquín Tinajero E3-05 y Jorge Drom Quito, Ecuador Phones: (593 2) 22 71 800 - 22 49 968 [email protected] Web site: www.avesconservacion.org ISBN: ISSN: Citation: Jahn, O. and T. Santander. 2008. Species Action Plan for the Black-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis nigrivestis. Aves & Conservación and BirdLife International, Quito, Ecuador. Front cover photos: Black-breasted Puffleg Francisco Enríquez Published by Aves & Conservación - BirdLife in Ecuador Printed and bound by Design by Mantilla Diseño SAVING THE WORLD’S MOST THREATENED BIRDS A total of 190 species are classified by BirdLife International as Critically Endangered (CR) on the 2008 IUCN Red List owing to their very small and declining population and ranges or very rapid population declines. To prevent further extinctions, these species need urgent action. In response to the large number of Critically Endangered species and their extremely high risk of extinction, BirdLife International has launched the ‘Preventing Extinctions Program’. This aims to appoint ‘Species Guardians’ (individuals or organizations who take on a formal role to implement, coordinate or promote conservation action for a particular CR species) and ‘Species Champions’ (donors who support the work to prevent extinctions by BirdLife, its Partners, and Species Guardians). The Black-breasted Puffleg will benefit through support provided by companies and individuals concerned for and interested in the work of the BirdLife partnership. If you would like to prevent extinctions by becoming a BirdLife Species Champion and help save the Black- breasted Puffleg and every one of the world’s Globally Threatened Birds refer to BirdLife International’s web site www.birdlife.org for more information. GLOBAL SPONSORS OF THE PROGRAM THE BRITISH BIRD WATCHING FAIR This ACtion Plan has been PREPARED THANKS TO THE COLLABORATION OF RESEARCH ON THE BLACK-BREASTED PUFFLEG HAS BEEN SUPPORTED BY contents SUMMARY 5 4.3 Corridors 29 4.4 Protected areas 29 RESumen 6 4.4.1 Identification of new protected areas 29 INTRODUCTIon 7 4.4.2 Establishment 29 1. POLICY-BASED ACTIONS 9 4.4.3 Management 30 1.1 Management plans 9 4.4.4 Expansion 30 1.1.1 Development 9 4.5 Community-based initiatives 30 1.1.2 Implementation 10 5. SPECIES-BASED ACTION 31 1.2 Legislation 11 5.1 Re-introductions 31 1.2.1 Development 11 5.2 Benign introductions 31 1.2.1.1 International level 11 5.3 Sustainable use 31 1.2.1.2 National level 11 5.3.1 Harvest management 31 1.2.1.3 Sub-national level 11 5.3.2 Trade management 31 1.2.2 Implementation 12 5.4 Recovery management 31 1.2.2.1 International level 12 5.5 Disease, pathogen, parasite management 31 1.2.2.2 National level 12 5.6 Limiting population growth 31 1.2.2.3 Sub-national level 12 5.7 Ex situ conservation actions 31 1.3 Community management 13 5.7.1 Captive breeding/Artificial propagation 31 1.3.1 Governance 13 5.7.2 Genome resource bank 31 1.3.2 Resource stewardship 13 1.3.3 Livelihood alternatives 13 ACKNOWLEDGMENTs 32 1.4 Other: Landownership and stakeholder analysis 14 REFERENCEs 33 1.4.1 Landownership 14 APPENDICEs 34 1.4.2 Stakeholder analysis 14 Appendix 1a: 34 1.4.2.1 Private landowners 14 IUCN Conservation Actions Authority File 1.4.2.2 Communities 15 Apéndice 1a: 36 1.4.2.3 Governmental Organizations 15 Documento oficial de la UICN para las acciones de 1.4.2.4 Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) 15 conservación Appendix 2a: 38 2. cOMMUNICATION AND eDUCATION 16 Activity schedule, priority, and responsibilities 2.1 Formal education 16 Apéndice 2b: 45 2.2 Awareness 16 Cronograma de actividades, prioridades y 2.3 Capacity-building/Training 17 responsabilidades. 3. rESEARCH ACTIONS 18 Appendix 3a: 53 3.1 Taxonomy 18 Proposed site-based conservation action and 3.2 Population numbers and range 18 conservation priority 3.3 Biology and ecology 19 Apéndice 3b: 57 3.4 Habitat status 21 Acciones de conservación propuestas en base a 3.5 Threats 23 los sitios y prioridades de conservación 3.6 Uses and harvest levels 25 Appendix 4: 61 3.7 Cultural relevance 25 Estimated costs of selected activities 3.8 Conservation measures 25 Appendix 5: 63 3.9 Trends/Monitoring 25 Design of a population monitoring program for Black-breasted Puffleg 4. hABITAT AND SITE-BASED ACTIONS 27 Appendix 6: 64 4.1 Maintenance/Conservation 27 Meetings and workshops with stakeholders 4.2 Restoration 28 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Black-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis nigrivestis is an enigmatic • Awareness campaigns should be expanded to other areas, hummingbird (Aves: Trochilidae) endemic to Ecuador and considered to particularly the Íntag valley and the Volcán Atacazo area. be Critically Endangered with extinction at both global and national levels. • The development of a GIS database of land tenure, current land- It is restricted to the Central Andean Páramo and Inter-Andean Slopes and use, and other socioeconomic information will greatly facilitate Valleys endemic centers, where it is found in high Andean montane forest the design and implementation of many site-specific conservation on two isolated volcanoes and one cordillera in northwestern Ecuador. interventions, and especially those linked to the provision of The majority of observations are from the northwestern slope of Volcán sustainable likelihood alternatives for local people. Pichincha, though there was a sighting of a possible female in 1983 from the • Recently developed management plans should be implemented neighboring Volcán Atacazo. In 2006, a small population was rediscovered to improve the protection of the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological in the Cordillera de Toisán above the Íntag valley, a historical locality Reserve and the Protective Forest Mindo-Nambillo. for the species. According to data from museum specimens, the species • Expeditions to poorly studied areas of suitable habitat should historically occurred between 2,440 and 4,725 m. In recent years, most be carried out, particularly on the western slope of Volcán records have been between 2,850 and 3,500 m, with dispersing immatures Pichincha, Volcán Atacazo, and the main massif of the Cordillera found as low as 1,700 m. The puffleg’s confirmed Extent of Occurence is de Toisán. 2 estimated at 68 km , and its global population at 250-999 individuals. The • Key sites for new community and private reserves should expansion of the agricultural frontier, and particularly the establishment of be identified. cattle pastures and the felling of montane forest for timber and charcoal • Effective legal mechanisms for formal recognition of community production, constitutes the main threat to the species’ survival. Its small and private reserves are urgently needed. subpopulations are believed to be suffering ongoing declines due to • Likewise, all governmental, community and private reserves have deforestation within a severely fragmented habitat, and increasingly from to be protected from the adverse environmental impacts of mining. the impacts of climate change. This combination of factors qualifies the • To make habitat protection economically attractive and viable species as Critically Endangered and justifies the urgency of the actions for local people, an endowment fund strategy for conservation presented here. easements has to be developed and implemented. This Action Plan was developed in 2007, a year during which considerable • Degraded lands should be reforested and biological corridors re- progress was made in the implementation of conservation measures to established to guarantee connectivity between remnant forest benefit Black-breasted Puffleg: fragments and continuous habitat. • A community and stakeholder outreach program was carried • The Ecuadorian government, as well as national and international out in Pichincha province. This included eight workshops with stakeholders should lobby for an effective agreement on the representatives of communities, private landowners, NGOs, local reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as global warming and regional governments, and ministries. might push the climate envelope of Black-breasted Puffleg and • A Local Conservation Group (LCG) was formed to support many other endemic high-Andean animal and plant species above conservation in the Important Bird Area (IBA) “Mindo and the current timberline. western slopes of Volcán Pichincha”, one of the last strongholds • In addition, diverse plant communities of native woody vegetation of the puffleg. Creation of this LCG will help train local people have to be restored in the páramo grasslands of Volcán Pichincha, in fundraising, bookkeeping, project administration, and basic bird Volcán Atacazo, and within the Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological monitoring techniques. Reserve, to mitigate the adverse effects of global warming. • Environmental education materials were produced and distributed, • The monitoring of habitat status and change in five-year intervals including a booklet for the general public and didactic materials for would facilitate the evaluation of the conservation status teachers, allowing them to include topics like the Black-breasted of Black-breasted Puffleg as well as the success of Puffleg and the importance of high-Andean forests for biodiversity conservation interventions. conservation and water provision in their school curricula. • Studies on feeder-transmitted diseases should be carried out • The first standardized