All the monitoring activities of 2021 were finalized in December and we are currently in the process of analyzing the data.
Since 2008 there have been 52.712 birds observed on 129 monitoring points during 3117 sessions. A total of 248 could be confirmed in the Santa Lucía reserve.
In 2021, 172 species were observed, this is the second highest count ever only topped by 187 species in 2020.
There are no suprises in the most observed species. Maybe the Dusky Bush-Tanager / Chlorospingus is a little lower on the list than usually, but there is no need to worry about it. It remains abundant and easy to observe along the main trail from the lodge on uphill.
The ten most commonly observed species in 2021 were:
(1) Gray-breasted Wood-Wren (Henicorhina leucophrys ) - present in 72,98% of all sessions
(2) Orange-bellied Euphonia (Euphonia xanthogaster) - 58,49%
(3) Brown Inca (Coeligena wilsonii) - 56,54%
(4) Violet-tailed Sylph (Aglaiocercus coelestis ) - 52,36%
(5) Slate-throated Whitestart (Myioborus miniatus ) - 47,91%
(6) Booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) - 45,12%
(7) Rufous-breasted Antthrush (Formicarius rufipectus) - 38,99%
(8) Golden-headed Quetzal (Pharomachrus auriceps ) - 33,98%
(9) Plumbeous Pigeon (Patagioenas plumbea ) - 30,64%
(10) Dusky Bush-Tanager / Chlorospingus (Chlorospingus semifuscus) - 30,08%
Golden Tanager (Tangara arthus) and Andean Solitaire (Myadestes ralloides ) which were in the Top 10 in 2020 are now in positions 11 and 12. So - all in all - the results amongst the top birds have been pretty stable over the last years.
For those who now (at least some of) the species mentioned above it is obvious that - although all those species are indeed common or abundant in Santa Lucía - there is a bias towards very vocal species in our monitoring.