The Rusty-faced Parrot is most threatened by habitat destruction and fragmentation. Extensive logging and clearing for agriculture, development, and mining have destroyed much of its historical habitat in the Andes.
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Hapalopsittaca amazonina has three subspecies in the Andes of Venezuela and Colombia. A sight record from Ecuador in 1992 was presumed by range to be this species (Ridgely and Greenfield 2001). Subspecies theresae is restricted to the Sierra de Mérida (Trujillo [Sharpe et al. 2001], Mérida and Táchira), Venezuela. Nominate amazonina occurs on both slopes of the East Andes in south-west Táchira, Venezuela; and Cundinamarca, Boyacá and historically Norte de Santander and Santander, Colombia. Subspecies velezi is known from both slopes of the Central Andes in Caldas, Risaralda (R. Strewe in litt. 1999) and Tolima (B. López-Lanús in litt. 2000), Colombia. There are recent sightings of Hapalopsittaca species from the head of the Madgalena valley, Huila, Colombia, and northern Ecuador (Robbins et al. 1994a, G. H. Rosenberg in litt. 2000), probably all amazonina (Juniper and Parr 1998). A recent Colombian population estimate of 2,500-10,000 individuals based on a hypothetical density c.1 individual/km2 and 25% occupancy of the estimated 13,890 km2 of suitable habitat (Renjifo et al. 2002) may be over-generous, but it is likely that the Colombian population numbers several thousand birds (P. G. W. Salaman in litt. 2005). There are c. 250 birds of the nominate subspecies in the Soata bird reserve, Boyacá (O. Cortes and A. Hernandez-Jaramillo in litt. 2007). The Venezuelan population unknown, although it is encountered regularly in several different parts of the Mérida Andes (C. J. Sharpe in litt. 2003, Weller and Rengifo 2003, Rengifo et al. 2005, Rengifo et al. 2005).
Getting to Colombia is easy with airline miles. Since Colombia is in the northern South America region with Peru, please see this post for details on how many miles you would need. The main airport, Bogota is well served by both Star Alliance (Avianca, Copa, United, Lufthansa, Air Canada) and One World (American, LAN, Iberia).
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