During several expeditions, four of the six moors that the department has, a species of bird was recorded for the first time and six more were confirmed.
By: Gisela Hurtado Celis – @giselahcelis
A new bird record for Huila and six confirmed bird species were the results of the expeditions carried out to four of the six moorland complexes that the department has.
“Due to the interest in knowing and analyzing the state of the moors in the Huila area and carrying out the first inventories of birds, trying to fill the information gaps that have been identified in these ecosystems, we found some important data on the biodiversity that inhabits them.“, assured Sebastián Betancourth of the Ornithological Component of the Regional Autonomous Corporation of Alto Magdalena-CAM.
After documenting 60 species of birds, Coeligena bonapartei was identified as a new record for the Huila and Cinclodes albidiventris, Chalcostigma heteropogon, Oxypogon guerinii, Grallaria rufula, Scytalopus griseicollis and Geranoaetus melanoleucus as six confirmed species. The articulation work was carried out by the CAM with the Huila Ornithological Association, National Parks, environmental organizations, local communities, 32 local professionals and experts.
“Thus, thanks to these exercises and the increase in bird watchers throughout the department, the bird inventory amounts to 745 species.”, highlighted the CAM ornithologist.
visited moors
The Paramos visited by the expedition are located in the protected areas of the Oseras Regional Natural Park, in the municipality of Colombia; from the Miraflores Regional Natural Park, in Garzón; of the Nevado del Huila National Natural Park in Teruel and the Puracé National Natural Park between the municipalities of Isnos, San Agustín and La Plata.
“The Huila moors have the particularity that they are difficult to access, for this reason the effects are few. It is noteworthy that local communities in the Miraflores Regional Natural Park have carried out a very complete bird characterization exercise for seven years. In addition, this 2024 the biodiversity characterization expedition was carried out in Miraflores within the framework of the HYLEA project.”said the ornithologist.
For Sebastián Betancourth, the Puracé National Natural Park is the moor complex with the most biodiversity information generated by National Parks, the University of Cauca, the Orígenes Monitoring Group and organizations in Cauca.
“The tours of the moors took around six months of planning, but in the field it was about 25 days in which local communities, professionals in the area of biology, environmental engineers, graduates and a range of professionals participated who took on the task. going to recognize birdlife issues, exploring, collecting and expedition to learn about the biodiversity, birds, flora and herpets in the localities”, assured the professional from the environmental entity.
First exercise
This unprecedented event in the department allowed, according to the researchers, to understand the current state of the paramos, what information is available and what would be the possible strategies to strengthen biodiversity inventories and environmental education in the municipalities where these important ones are located. ecosystems.
Huila Paramos
In Huila there are six moorland complexes delimited by the Ministry of the Environment. 93% of these paramo areas of the department are sheltered by protected areas such as PNN National Natural Parks, PNR Regional Natural Parks or declared Regional Integrated Management Districts – DRMI.
The moor complexes and municipalities where they are located in Huila are: Sotará, located in San Agustín, Guanacas-Puracé-Coconucos between San Agustín, Isnos and La Plata, Nevado Huila-Moras located between Teruel, Íquira and Santa María, Miraflores in Algeciras, Gigante and Garzón, Los Picachos in Baraya and Cruz Verde-Sumapaz in Colombia.
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