Vilcabamba Inca

This large and beautiful hummingbird is restricted to the Vilcabamba mountains of south-central Peru. The inca was described in 1985 based on specimens that had been collected nearly twenty-years earlier in 1967. Despite a number of observations, the species was not documented until August 2024 when the first photographs and videos were taken by Carole Turek as part of her quest to see all the hummingbird species in the world.

The taxonomic status of Vilcabamba Inca is debated. The inca was initially described as a subspecies of the widespread Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata). It continues to be treated as a subspecies by the Clements global taxonomy and South American Checklist Committee, while the HBW/BirdLife global taxonomy recognizes it, along with several other subspecies of Collared Inca, as a distinct species. In addition to its unique geographic distribution, the Vilcabamba Inca differs from other subspecies of Collared Inca by having coppery uppertail coverts.

The Vilcabamba Inca inhabits cloud forest between 1,600-3,000 m (IUCN Red List).

This species was described by Dr. J. Weske in 1985 as a new subspecies of Collared Inca. According to him, this bird was found in mid-elevation forest in the northern Cordillera Vilcabamba which is located in the front range of the Andes in south-central Peru. The lowlands of the Rio Apurimac valley creates a barrier between the Vilcabamba Inca and her relatives to the west and northwest of the country. He remarks that the bird's plumage pattern and range coincides with the northern, white-banded subspecies group of the Collared Inca and the southern, rufous-banded group (Weske, 1985). It is interesting to note that Weske does not actually list the Vilcabamba Inca as a separate species but as a subspecies of the Collared Inca. This seems to be the consensus among many ornithologists.

This species is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN which made its last assessment in 2016. Despite its small range, the Vilcabamba Inca is classified as such because there is not enough data according to the IUCN's criteria to classify this bird as Vulnerable or Endangered. Even though the population size of this species is unknown, it is thought to be decreasing due to the loss of the cloud forests that it inhabits in Peru (IUCN Red List).

For a distribution map of the Vilcabamba Inca, click here.

A Vilcabamba Inca was videoed and photographed by Carole Turek in August 2024. These appear to be the first-ever photographs and video of the species alive. Prior to this, the documented record we are aware of are the types specimens that were collected in July 1967 (July 1967; AMNH 820476). It is worth noting that there were a number of sightings of the inca in the intervening years (e.g., in eBird).

A DNA analysis of museum specimens may help settle the debate among taxonomists about whether or not the Vilcabamba Inca is a subspecies of the Collared Inca or a separate species.

There is disagreement among taxonomists regarding whether to treat the Vilcabamba Inca as a distinct species or as a subspecies of Collared Inca (Coeligena torquata).

Depending on the organization, the Collared Inca has several subspecies. According to the International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements Taxonomy, there are five species of Collared Inca: Coeligena torquata torquata, coeligena torquata fulgidigula, coeligena torquata margaretae, coeligena torquata insectivora, and coeligena torquata eisenmanni (Vilcabamba Inca). The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC) adds three other subspecies: coeligena torquata conradii, coeligena torquata omissa, and coeligena torquata inca. The IOC and Clements treat the first as the Green Inca and the other two as the Gould's Inca. It seems to be primarily Birdlife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World that sees the Vilcabamba Inca as a separate species and that the consensus is that this bird is a subspecies of the Collared Inca (Birds of the World).