Conservation and Management

Despite its small estimated range, about 1400 km², and evidence of population decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction, Tacarcuna Chlorospingus is listed by IUCN Red List as Least Concern (BirdLife International 2015). It received this categorization because it does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the criteria of range size, population trend and population size. The last two criteria have not been properly evaluated, and its area of occupancy has not been estimated.

Tacarcuna Chlorospingus has been always recorded in pristine or well conserved habitats according to its high degree of sensitivity to habitat disturbance (Stotz et al. 1996). Habitat loss and fragmentation due to deforestation is the main threat facing populations of this species, particularly owing to their insular distribution along the highlands of the Darién and Caribbean. Deforestation in the Darién of Colombia and Panamá has advanced in recent decades due to the expansion of cattle rising (Angehr et al. 2004, Renjifo et al. unpublished data). In Panamá, Tacarcuna Chlorospingus is known from only a few localities, which are part of the following protected areas: Cerros Brujas, Brewster, Azul and Jefe (Chagres National Park), and Cerros Tacarcuna and Malí (Darién National Park). The Serranías de Majé and San Blas are considered to be Important Bird Areas, but currently are unprotected (Montañéz and Angehr 2007). In Colombia, Los Katíos National Park, the only protected area in the Darién region, covers lowland humid forest up to 600 m (Rodríguez-Mahecha 1982), which leaves unprotected the Colombian highlands of the Serranía del Darién.