Last-known Habitat of the World's Rarest Bird Protected

Media Contact: Jordan Rutter, ABC Director of Public Relations| jerutter@abcbirds.org | @JERutter

Stresemann's Bristlefront will get added protection with the addition of much-needed habitat to Mata do Passarinho Reserve. Photo by Ciro Albano

Stresemann's Bristlefront will get added protection with the addition of much-needed habitat to Mata do Passarinho Reserve. Photo by Ciro Albano

More than 500 acres of Atlantic Forest, including the area where the last known Stresemann's Bristlefront was detected, will be added to the Mata do Passarinho, or “Songbird Forest,” Reserve in Brazil. American Bird Conservancy (ABC) partner Fundação Biodiversitas (Biodiversitas) has taken ownership of the added acreage, which consists of two rare fragments of intact Atlantic Forest. This biome is one of the most threatened in the world, with less than10 percent of its original area remaining.

The land was donated to Biodiversitas as part of a mitigation project required when the local utility company Interligação Elétrica put up transmission lines in the area. The company worked closely with Biodiversitas and the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) to secure the land, and will also help with management costs.

In 2007, Fundação Biodiversitas, with support from ABC and other organizations, established the Mata do Passarinho Reserve to safeguard habitat for the bristlefront and other rare species, such as the Banded Cotinga. Fires devastated the alreadyscarce habitat for Stresmann's Bristlefront in 2016, leading to its disappearance until searches led by reserve manager Alexander Zaidan, with support from ABC and other groups, rediscovered the species in late 2018 — on private land just outside of the reserve's boundaries. The single bristlefront documented there was last seen in fall 2020, prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. ABC will be working with Zaidan to continue searches for additional bristlefront individuals both in the reserve and in the newly acquired land. We are hopeful that new individuals will be found and that this reserve expansion will help to conserve and increase the bristlefront's fragile population.

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American Bird Conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. With an emphasis on achieving results and working in partnership, we take on the greatest problems facing birds today, innovating and building on rapid advancements in science to halt extinctions, protect habitats, eliminate threats, and build capacity for bird conservation. Find us on abcbirds.org, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@ABCbirds).