2004 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International - the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Endangered

2004 IUCN Red List justification There are recent records of this species from just two locations and the known range is very small. Little demographic information is available, but the best-known population seems to be declining. It is therefore considered Endangered.

Family/Sub-family TROCHILIDAE

Species name author (Bourcier, 1847)

Taxonomic sources Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993), Stotz et al. (1996)

Identification 10-15 cm. Medium-sized hummingbird with amazing tail. Male has blue crest-like cap. Blue gorget and black line down centre of breast and belly. Rest of underparts white with green sides of breast and belly. Above mostly bronzy-brown. Lateral tail feathers very long, bare and ending in large, dark rackets. Two central feathers long and narrow. Tail varies with age. Female has white throat and lacks black on underparts. Tail much shorter, still shows drop-shaped rackets.

Similar spp. Booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii is much greener with rounded head.

Voice Peculiar humming and loud flapping noises of the modified flight feathers.

Population estimate 250-999
Population trend decreasing
Range estimate 110 km²
Country endemic? Yes

Range & population Loddigesia mirabilis is uncommon and restricted to the eastern slopes of the río Utcubamba valley (an affluent on the right bank of the río Marañón) in the Cordillera del Colán, Amazonas, and one locality further east in San Martín, north Peru⁴.
On the slopes above the río Utcubamba, it is known from three areas (north and south-east of Leimebamba, the Chachapoyas area and Florida, on the shore of Lago Pomacochas), but the only recent records are from Florida². However, a male recorded near Jesús del Monte, San Martín, in 1987⁴ indicates that there is much to learn about the species's distribution.
In the 1960s, it was reported to have occurred at c.15 localities west of the río Utcubamba in Luya province, but there is no supporting evidence. It appears to occur at low densities and numbers seem to have dwindled around Florida.

Ecology It occurs in forest edge, second growth, montane scrub and, in particular, thorny, impenetrable Rubus thickets admixed with Alnus trees, at 2,100-2,900 m (occasionally 1,700-3,700 m)². Its preferred food-plant is the red-flowered lily Alstroemeria (Bomarea) formosissima, but it has been observed feeding on at least five species of flowering plant⁵. The breeding season is thought to run from late October to early May. Adult males (which are greatly outnumbered by females and immature males) gather at leks where they display to attract females.

Threats Deforestation is widespread on the mountain slopes of the Cordillera del Colán, with much habitat cleared since 1978, and remaining forest under threat of conversion to cash-crops such as marijuana and coffee¹. However, the species's apparent preference for forest edge and isolated woodlots on steep slopes may reduce its vulnerability to habitat alteration. Interviews with Florida's inhabitants and enquiries in a nearby market town have revealed that dried hearts of the males of this species are believed to have aphrodisiac properties³. Hunting with slingshots for this reason may even explain the skewed sexual ratio³.

Conservation measures underway CITES Appendix II, but no other measures are known.

Camayocperu.com Editors note: The Camayoc Foundation in Chachapoyas, Peru, protects one of the known habitats of the Marvelous Spatuletail Hummingbird

Conservation measures proposed Survey to locate additional sites for the species. Survey to investigate its potential occurrence west of the río Utcubamba⁵. Estimate the population near Florida. Protect remaining forests in the Cordillera del Colán¹. Develop initiatives to reduce the impact of hunting.