Munchique Wood-Wren

The Munchique wood-wren was another bird my guide was very excited about. We were on the road on Montezuma Mountain above the Montezuma Rainforest Lodge. My guide told me it is another bird that people from all over the world go there to see. 

It is found only on the Pacific slope of the Western Andes in Colombia in four areas. One of the areas, the Munchique Massif, gives it its name. It only inhabits very wet and stunted cloud forest that is almost continually in fog in elevations ranging from 7,380 to 8,660 feet. There are only an estimated 300 pairs alive. It is considered critically endangered because of the small population size, extremely restricted range, and threats from deforestation and climate change. 

Munchique wood-wren range from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia and Birds of the World, a subscription service put out by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have some conflicting information. Birds of the World says it was not discovered until 2008. Wikipedia says it was first observed by Steven Hilty in the 1980s, then described in detailed studies in 2000 and described as "new to science" in 2003. 

Wikipedia describes it as having a "dark brown crown with blackish marks, a thin white supercilium, a dull black line from the lores through the eye, and blackish cheeks with whitish mottling. Its upperparts are a slightly brighter brown than the crown and its tail is brown with black bars. The throat is white, streaked with black at its lower edge. The breast is medium gray, the belly a lighter gray, and the flanks and vent area brown. The abdomen and flanks have dark gray to black bars."