Blue-bearded helmetcrest

The blue-bearded helmetcrest (Oxypogon cyanolaemus) is a species of hummingbird endemic to the Santa Marta Mountains in northeastern Colombia. It has elongated purply blue throated feathers, which assemble in the form of a beard and a prominent white crest. The white frame from the face extends from the rear of the head, around the ear coverts and down to the breast side.

Blue-bearded helmetcrest
A blue-bearded helmetcrest photographed by Carole Turek of Hummingbird Spot in February 2020
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Trochilidae
Genus:	Oxypogon
Species:	O. cyanolaemus
Binomial name
Oxypogon cyanolaemus (Salvin & Godman, 1880)

Illustration of blue-bearded helmetcrest (right) and Santa Marta sabrewing (left)

The blue-bearded helmetcrest was formerly considered to be a subspecies of what was known as the bearded helmetcrest (Oxypogon guerinii). The blue-bearded helmetcrest was promoted to species status when the bearded helmetcrest was split into four species based on a study of biometric and plumage data published in 2013. The nominate subspecies was renamed the green-bearded helmetcrest.[2][3]

It is an extremely rare hummingbird which was known only from 62 museum specimens with the most recent specimen taken since 1946. Surveys during 1999-2003 failed to detect the species. A brief survey in February 2007 and December 2011 failed to detect the species but survey efforts were never sufficiently thorough to list this species as Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct).[1] In March 2015, the blue-bearded helmetcrest was rediscovered by researchers from the foundation ProAves while documenting fires set by local farmers that now threaten the species.[4]