Colombian guan may become unique species
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Researchers studying birds in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, a mountain range in Colombia, gathered evidence suggesting the ‘Colombian’ guan could be a distinct species.
For nearly a century, scientists have classified this bird as a subspecies of the band-tailed guan, but a recent study challenges that categorization. Juan I. Areta, M. Juliana Benitez Saldivar, Pamela C. Rasmussen, and J. V.
Remsen Jr. examined details like eye color, feather patterns, and song to differentiate the ‘Colombian’ guan from related guans in the Andes mountains and Perija Mountains, which span Colombia and Venezuela. The team reviewed over 1,700 photographs and recordings, noting differences in iris color, crown feather edges, facial skin markings, and tail coloration. They also observed that the ‘Colombian’ guan’s song and wingbeats differed significantly from those of other guans.
Specifically, the ‘Colombian’ guan produces longer, slower rising notes with frequency jumps in its song, while its wingbeats consist of a single segment. These characteristics, combined with the geographic isolation of the ‘Colombian’ guan, separated from related populations by 120 kilometers of arid land, led the researchers to propose recognizing it as a separate species.
The South American Classification Committee must now evaluate this proposal, and if approved, Colombia would gain another bird species unique to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, bringing the total to 37.
