The colorful puffleg is one of the most mysterious, but sadly also one of the most endangered, of America's hummingbird species. Its habitat is restricted to a small, but extremely wet, rainforest area in western Colombia.
Swarovski Optik has therefore set itself the task, in conjunction with the American Bird Conservancy and ProAves Colombia organizations to protect from extinction the threatened colorful puffleg, of which only 50 to 250 birds remain throughout the world. Swarovski Optik is therefore financing the purchase of approx. 2,000 hectares, where fauna and flora include not just the colorful puffleg, but also another 16 endangered bird species, two endangered frog species and many other rare birds, amphibians, butterflies and plants that only occur in this part of the world.
The purchase of the 2,000 hectares must go ahead as quickly as possible before the El Nino climate phenomenon happens again. During El Nino phases, the normally very wet rainforest dries out completely. When this situation arises again the native people are likely to slash and burn on a massive scale, and that would lead to further degradation of the colorful puffleg's habitat.