Critically Endangered
Chilean woodstar
Eulidia yarrellii
The species' name commemorates the English naturalist William Yarrell.
Appearance
Both sexes have a short black bill. The adult male is iridescent olive green above and white below. The central tail feathers are very short and green. The outer ones are longer, blackish brown, and curve inwards.
It is the smallest bird in Chile.
The Chilean woodstar is 7.5 to 8.0 cm (3.0 to 3.1 in) long and weighs 2.3 to 2.6 g (0.081 to 0.092 oz).
Published measurements include mass about 2.4.
Range and habitat
The Chilean woodstar inhabits scrub, thickets, and gardens along river valleys of the arid Arica area. In elevation it generally ranges between 200 and 750 m (660 and 2,500 ft). It is endemic to Chile though there are unconfirmed reports from southern Peru.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
It tends to forage alone, but there are historical records of large numbers feeding at flowering trees. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding phenology.
In crisis
The IUCN originally assessed the Chilean woodstar in 1988 as Threatened. It was progressively moved through classifications of greater peril until being declared Critically Endangered in 2014, where it remains. It has a greatly restricted area of occupancy of about 6,220 km2 (2,400 sq mi) and an estimated population of only 210 mature individuals or about 300 total.
The population has hugely declined since then, with estimates of 1500 individuals in 2003, 1200 in 2007, and 500 in 2012. Habitat loss is the main threat to the Chilean woodstar, with only small patches of suitable native vegetation remaining due to increased conversion to agriculture.
CITES lists this taxon on Appendix II. Confirm the current appendix on the CITES checklist.
Chilean woodstar is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Chilean woodstar, Wikidata item Q657365. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
