Ecuador’s Cerro de Arcos protects endangered blue-throated hillstar
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In southern Ecuador, the Jocotoco Foundation established a 387-hectare reserve in 2020 at Cerro de Arcos to safeguard the habitat of the blue-throated hillstar, a hummingbird species discovered in 2017.
Ornithologist Francisco Sornoza first identified the hillstar, and scientists officially described it as a new species in 2018.
The páramo ecosystem at Cerro de Arcos, in the Loja province, supports a small population of the hillstar, estimated at only 80 to 110 mature individuals, and also provides habitat for migratory birds like the Baird’s sandpiper and mammals such as the páramo wolf. However, the area faces increasing threats from pine plantations, cattle ranching, frequent burning, and mining concessions, which currently cover around 25% of the hillstar’s range.
The decline of flowering plants, which the hummingbird depends on for food, adds to the challenges facing the critically endangered species. To aid monitoring, researchers enlisted a professional climber to help park rangers safely access nesting sites, some located five to six meters high in the rocky formations that give Cerro de Arcos its name.
Specialists have also begun restoring the habitat by planting 4750 native plants, primarily chuquiragua, both within the reserve and near the Guambusari community, to benefit the hummingbird and other páramo species like the Andean condor.
