Eupherusa poliocerca

Taxonomy

Assessment Information

Geographic Range

Population

Habitat and Ecology

Threats

Conservation Actions

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Taxonomy [top]

Kingdom	Phylum	Class	Order	Family
ANIMALIA	CHORDATA	AVES	APODIFORMES	TROCHILIDAE

Scientific Name:

Eupherusa poliocerca

Species Authority:

Elliot, 1871

Common Name/s:

English	–	White-tailed Hummingbird
Spanish	–	Colibrí de Guerrero, Colibrí Guerrerense

Assessment Information [top]

Red List Category & Criteria:

Vulnerable A2c+3c+4c;B1ab(i,ii,iii,v) ver 3.1

Year Published:

2012

Assessor/s:

BirdLife International

Reviewer/s:

Butchart, S. & Symes, A.

Contributor/s:

Reid, M. & Züchner, T.

Justification:
This species has a very small range in which there is a rapid and continuing decline in the extent, area and quality of suitable habitat. The range is so small that it would qualify as Endangered, but it is known from more than five locations and is thus considered Vulnerable.

History:

2008	–	Vulnerable
2004	–	Vulnerable
2000	–	Vulnerable
1996	–	Endangered
1994	–	Endangered

Geographic Range [top]

Range Description:	Eupherusa poliocerca is fairly common to common (Howell and Webb 1995a, M. Reid in litt. 1998) but extremely local on the Pacific slope of the Sierra Madre del Sur in Guerrero and west Oaxaca, south-west Mexico. Most records in Guerrero are from near Omiltemi and along the Atoyac de Alvarez-Teotepec road (e.g. Navarro 1992), but it has been recorded further west, inland from Zihuatanejo. All undisputed records in Oaxaca are from a stretch of road near Putla de Guerrero in the Sierra Yucuyacua.
Countries:	Native: Mexico
Range Map:	Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.

Population [top]

Population:	The population size is preliminarily estimated to fall into the band 10,000-19,999 individuals. This equates to 6,667-13,333 mature individuals, rounded here to 6,000-15,000 mature individuals.
Population Trend:	Decreasing

Habitat and Ecology [top]

Habitat and Ecology:	It inhabits cloud-forest, evergreen subtropical and semi-humid forest, forest edge and adjacent coffee fincas at elevations of 800-2,440 m (Howell and Webb 1995a). However, it is probably marginal or seasonal at the lower altitudes (below 1,200 m) in the ecotone between tropical semi-deciduous forest and cloud-forest. It feeds on a variety of flowering plants, but is subordinate to other hummingbirds in its range (T. Züchner in litt. 1999). Breeding season peaks are likely to be February-May and September-October.
Systems:	Terrestrial

Habitat and Ecology:

It inhabits cloud-forest, evergreen subtropical and semi-humid forest, forest edge and adjacent coffee fincas at elevations of 800-2,440 m (Howell and Webb 1995a). However, it is probably marginal or seasonal at the lower altitudes (below 1,200 m) in the ecotone between tropical semi-deciduous forest and cloud-forest. It feeds on a variety of flowering plants, but is subordinate to other hummingbirds in its range (T. Züchner in litt. 1999). Breeding season peaks are likely to be February-May and September-October.

Systems:

Terrestrial

Threats [top]

Major Threat(s):	It tolerates some habitat degradation adjacent to suitable forested habitats, but lower montane forests are being widely cleared for corn, fruit and coffee (Dinerstein et al. 1995), with forests at higher elevations being destroyed by cutting for lumber. Areas near Putla de Guerrero are now heavily deforested and further degraded by goats (Wege and Long 1995).

Major Threat(s):

It tolerates some habitat degradation adjacent to suitable forested habitats, but lower montane forests are being widely cleared for corn, fruit and coffee (Dinerstein et al. 1995), with forests at higher elevations being destroyed by cutting for lumber. Areas near Putla de Guerrero are now heavily deforested and further degraded by goats (Wege and Long 1995).

Conservation Actions [top]

Conservation Actions:	Conservation Actions Underway CITES Appendix II. It occurs in only one protected area, the Omiltemi State Ecological Park in Guerrero (Wege and Long 1995). Conservation Actions Proposed Carry out surveys to obtain a population estimate and clarify its distribution and the extent of remaining habitat. Designate a protected area in the Sierra de Atoyac (Hernández-Baños et al. 1995) encompassing the range of this species. Protect any remaining habitat near Putla de Guerrero.

Conservation Actions:

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES Appendix II. It occurs in only one protected area, the Omiltemi State Ecological Park in Guerrero (Wege and Long 1995).

Conservation Actions Proposed
Carry out surveys to obtain a population estimate and clarify its distribution and the extent of remaining habitat. Designate a protected area in the Sierra de Atoyac (Hernández-Baños et al. 1995) encompassing the range of this species. Protect any remaining habitat near Putla de Guerrero.

Citation:	BirdLife International 2012. Eupherusa poliocerca. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 June 2013.
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