History of ornithology in the Andean region:: The example of Colombia and Ecuador

Ecuadorian and Colombian ornithology has been dominated since its first years (1830-1920) by European and North American ornithologists. Since the publication of Frank M. Chapman studies in 1917 and 1926, the development of ornithology has been on the rise but, while in Ecuador national ornithologists only appeared late in the XX century (1970s), Colombia had important ornithologists since 1940-1950s. in both countries, the increase in publication numbers was evident since the 1960s, with a notable difference in the number of national authors. The proportion of Colombian authors ranged from 45 to 75%, while, in Ecuador, it only represented 2-25%. This difference was also reflected in the existence of natural history museums in Colombia since 1910s, but only since the 1940s in Ecuador. Further, there are 18 ornithological associations in Colombia, united in a National Network of Bird Observers (with more than 450 members), and 19 national ornithology meetings were carried out annually since 1988. On the other hand, in Ecuador, only one national meeting has taken place (2005) and no regional or national associations exist, though at least three conservation organizations are devoted to birds. Thorough analyses of information published up to 2004 in Ecuador illustrate that a lot of work is still needed. For instance, more than five publications exist on a meager 2% of the Ecuadorian species. Even though the current situation of ornithology in both Andean countries differs in terms of in-country progress, the state of knowledge is comparable as shown by the number of fairly well documented species, the geographic coverage of field research, and the lack of information on several topics like natural history and systematics.