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Home / Creature Feature: The Honduran Emerald
Creature Feature: The Honduran Emerald
Posted by Arkisaeo in Nature, Weird Stuff, Wildlife & Flora, 5 May 2010
Relatively small in size and mostly green in color, Honduran Emeralds live in the arid interior valleys of Honduras. Their range has included Yoro, Olanchito, the Agalta valley, and Valle de Telica. Surveys conducted in late 2008 also found the bird sparsely throughout 6 sections of forest in the Santa Barbara department. Although they choose scrub and thorn-forests as their home, their habitat is severely under threat.
Most of the thorn-forest area has been cleared away for grazing. Any that remains has become extremely dry. Habitats have also been destroyed for the sake of rice cultivation, pineapple plantations, and roads. Their population is estimated to be somewhere between 250 and 1000, though that’s a rough guess and they are, unfortunately, on the decline.
To find out more about this great, little bird, you can check out its profile at BirdLife International.
By Heidi Marshall
Tags: bird, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, Honduran Emerald, hummingbird, spotlight
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