Niceforo's Wren

The Niceforo Wren ( Thryothorus nicefori ) is a threatened with extinction Songbird from Colombia. Is named the type after the clergyman and naturalist Hermano Niceforo María.

Description

The Niceforo Wren is about 15 inches long. He is generally reddish brown and white. The hood and the jacket are olive brown. The rest of the top is reddish brown and gives it a two-tone appearance. The face shows a protruding white eye-streak. Wings and tail are black banded. The top edges are dashed black and white. The underside is white with light gray-brown flanks and sides. The coverts are black banded. His song consists of several deep, slow, soft, lively whistles, preceded by high tones.

Status

The Niceforo Wren has long been known only by ten specimens that were collected 1944-1948 at San Gil on the Rio Fonce south of Bucaramanga. Only in 1989 were two more birds were observed. The next sighting was again only in 2000. Nicoforo The Wren is found only on the western slopes of the eastern Andes in Santander. Here it inhabits dense acacia bush land in a semi-arid valley of the Great Basin of the Rio intramontane drainage Sagamosa at an altitude of 1095 m. North of San Gil the hills of coffee and sugar cane plantations are dominated shunned by this bird. The habitat of the Niceforo Wren was heavily modified by agriculture, acacia bush land is also threatened by overgrazing by goats and cattle.