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Notes About the Distribution of Pauxi Pauxi and Aburria Aburri in Venezuela

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Notes About the Distribution of Pauxi Pauxi and Aburria Aburri in Venezuela 564 THE WILSON BULLETIN * Vol. 111, No. 4, December 1999 tion of artificial nests. .I. Wildl. Manage. 58:249- OLSON, S. L. 1981. Natural history of vertebrates on 254. the Brazilian islands of the mid south Atlantic. FLACK, .I. A. D. AND B. D. LLOYD. 1976. The effect of Nat. Geog. Sot. Res. Rep. 13:481-492. rodents on the breeding success of the South Is- PATERSON,A. 1972. Birds of the Bahamas. Durell Pub- land Robin. Pp. 59-66 in The ecology and control lications, Kennebunkport, Maine. of rodents in New Zealand nature reserves (P R. PATON, I? W. C. 1994. The effect of edge on avian nest Dingwall, I. A. E. Atkinson, and C. Hay, Eds.). success: how strong is the evidence? Conserv. Departments of Land and Survey, Wellington, Biol. 8: 17-26. New Zealand. PICMAN, J. 1988. Experimental study of predation on GIBBS, J. P 1991. Avian nest predation in tropical wet eggs of ground-nesting birds: effects of habitat forest: an experimental study. Oikos 60: 155-16 1. and nest distribution. Condor 90: 124-l 3 1. GNAM, R. S. 1991. Natural history of the Bahama Par- REARDON, J. D. 1951. Identification of waterfowl nest rot Amazona leucocephala bahamensis on Abaco predators. J. Wildl. Manage. 15:386-395. Island. Proc. Symp. Nat. Hist. Bahamas 4:67-74. ROCKWELL, R. H. 1932. Southward through the dol- HARTLEY, M. J. AND M. L. HUNTER, JR. 1998. A meta- drums. Nat. Hist. 32:424-436. analysis of forest cover, edge effects, and artificial STAUS, N. L. AND E H. BARNWELL. 1996. The tropical nest predation rates. Conserv. Biol. 12:465-469. Atlantic land crab Cardisoma guanhumi feeds on HASKELL, D. G. 1995. A reevaluation of the effects of bird eggs. Am. Zool. 36:8OA. forest fragmentation on rates of bird-nest preda- THOMAS, B. G., E. P WIGGERS, AND R. L. CLAWSON. tion. Conserv. Biol. 5:1316-1318. 1996. Habitat selection and breeding status of HOSMER, D. W. AND S. LEMESHOW. 1989. Applied lo- Swainsons’ Warblers in southern Missouri. J. gistic regression. John Wiley and Sons, New York. Wildl. Manage. 60:611-616. LATTA, S. C., J. M. WUNDERLE, JR., E. TERRANOVA, TREVOR, J. T, R. W. SEABLOOM,AND R. D. SAYLER. AND M. PAGAN. 1995. An experimental study of 199 1. Identification of mammalian predators at ar- nest predation in a subtropical wet forest follow- tificial waterfowl nests. Prairie Nat. 23:93-99. ing hurricane disturbance. Wilson Bull. 107:590- VANDER HAEGEN, W. M. AND R. M. DEGRAAF. 1996. 602. Predation on artificial nests in forested riparian LAURANCE, W. E, J. GARESCHE, AND C. W. PAYNE. buffer strips. J. Wildl. Manage. 60:542-550. 1993. Avian nest predation in modified and nat- WATT, B. D. AND D. S. BRADSHAW. 1995. Ghost crab ural habitats in tropical Queensland: an experi- preys on Piping Plover eggs. Wilson Bull. 107: mental study. Wildl. Res. 20:7 1 l-723. 767-768. MAJOR, R. E. AND C. E. KENDAL. 1996. The contri- WOLCOTT, T G. 1988. Ecology. Pp. 55-96 in Biology bution of artificial nest experiments to understand- of the land crabs (W. W. Burggren and B. R. Mc- ing avian reproductive success: a review of meth- Mahon, Eds.). Cambridge Univ. Press, Cam- ods and conclusions. Ibis 138:298-307. bridge, U.K. Wilson Bull., 11 l(4), 1999, pp. 564-569 Notes About the Distribution of Pauxi pauxi and Aburria aburri in Venezuela Jo& L. Silval%* ABSTRACT.-In this paper I review the current principally with 18 national parks located from the distribution of the Northern Helmeted Curassow northern coastal mountains of central Venezuela to the (Pauxi pauxi) and the Wattled Guan (Aburria aburri) Andes Cordillera and Sierra de Perija. Pa& pauxi was in Venezuela. The historical range of P. paxci was re- recorded only in three localities outside national parks duced as a result of human population growth and hab- and may have expanded from its historical distribution itat perturbations. The current distribution corresponds in the eastern part of the country. Aburria aburri was recorded in Sierra de Perijd and western MCrida to ’ ’ NYZS The Wildlife Conservation Society, 185th southern Tachira, including four new localities; three & Southern Blvd., Bronx, New York 10460-1099. in national parks. Both species are endangered in Ven- * Current address: Univ. of Florida, Wildlife Ecolo- ezuela and their survival will depend on environmental gy and Conservation Dept., PO. Box 110430, 303 education programs and enforcement of the law. Re- Newins-Ziegler Hall, Gainesville, FL 3261 l-0430; ceived 9 Feb. 1998, accepted 20 July 1999. E-mail: [email protected] SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 565 The Wildlife Conservation Society of the Luis, Cueva Quebrada de1 Toro, and Tirgua New York Zoological Society funded a study National Parks. Although it was reported in on human impacts on game species in pro- Morrocoy National Park (Collar et al. 1992, tected areas of Venezuela from 1985 to 1990 Wege and Long 1993) according to the rang- (Silva and Strahl 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997). ers, it was no longer present in the park in During 1985-1996, censuses and interviews 1996. were conducted and new data about the dis- Pauxi pauxi is rare in national parks and tribution of Pauxi pauxi (Northern Helmeted almost extinct outside national parks because Curassow) and Aburria aburri (Wattled Guan) hunting pressure is highest outside the parks were collected. My objective in this paper is (Silva and Strahl 1991, 1996, 1997). The few to present these data and review the status of locations where P. pauxi was found outside P. pauxi and A. aburri in Venezuela. national parks included the Sanchdn River In Venezuela Pauxi pauxi ranges from the Hydraulic Reserve (10” 24 ’ N, 68” 09 ’ W), the northern coastal mountains of central Vene- Cojedes River Protectoral High Basin (10” 24 ’ zuela to the Andes Cordillera and Sierra de N, 68” 15 ’ W) and Finca El Jaguar (10” 26 ’ Perija in rain forest and cloud forest. Most au- N, 68” 59 ’ W). thors (Wetmore and Phelps 1943; Phelps and From interviews with hunters I found that Phelps 1958, 1962; Delacour and Amadon P. pauxi probably existed or may still live in 1973; Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978; eastern Venezuela. A hunter in Teresen (Mon- Collar et al. 1992; Rodriguez and Rojas-Suar- agas State) narrated the size, color pattern, and ez 1995) cited the states and localities of the helmeted color of this species, and imitated its historical range as follows: P. p. pauxi: south- booming song. He recognized the bird from a ern Miranda state in Cerro Negro (Guatopo set of cracid pictures. Pauxi pauxi was seen National Park); north Caracas in El Calvario; in La Hormiga (9“ 54 ’ N, 62” 58 ’ W), Cane Distrito Federal; coastal mountains in Aragua Payanuco, Guarapiche Forest Reserve (Sucre state (Henri Pittier National Park); Carabobo and Monagas States) between 1968 and 1973. state in Valencia, San Esteban, and Montal- Because only 1 of 25 interviewed hunters in ban; east Falcon to Yaracuy state in Tucacas, TeresCn saw a P. pauxi, and saw it only once, Nirgua, mountains inland from Aroa, and La- this should not be interpreted as range exten- gunita de Aroa; Lara state in Cubiro, and Ya- sion. The nearest locality of the historical dis- cambd National Park; from northern M&da tribution (Guatopo National Park) is approxi- to southern Tachira state in Montana de Li- mately 405 km from Guarapiche Forest Re- mones, La Azulita, and Burgua. Pauxi p. gil- serve, and this separation is settled with towns liardi: Zulia state from southern Sierra de Per- and cities. More likely the former distribution ija (Sierra de 10s Motilones) to southern Rio record was incomplete. Pauxi pauxi is very Tucuco, in Fila Macoita, Campamento Avispa, likely to be extinct in Guarapiche because of Cerro Yin-taina, upper Rio Negro, and La Sa- high hunting pressure. bana. A continuous distribution in the histor- An interesting characteristic of P. pauxi is ical range was assumed (Fig. 1A) because of the brown phenotype that sometimes occurs historical records, and Central Cordillera and in females. Males and females are typically Los Andes Cordillera were almost a continu- black with a white belly. Hunters call the ous forest in the past. brown morph “Canaguey” or “Pauji Amaril- The habitat available for P. pauxi has been lo.” It was reported in the Sierra de Perija, greatly reduced as a result of deforestation, where two specimens were collected between fragmentation, and habitat alteration. Almost 1941 and 1957 (Delacour and Amadon 1973). all the remnant forest available in northern Here I report 26 new localities of the brown Venezuela was decreed as national parks by morph seen between 1949 and 1993 (Table 1). the Venezuelan government. Consequently, Of the 34 birds sighted, a single brown phe- these national parks are isolated. I found that notype was seen with one black phenotype at the current distribution of P. pauxi mainly co- Fila Real (1975) one with two black pheno- incided with the distribution of national parks types at Casa de Tejas (1980), and one with situated in its historical range (Fig. lB), as seven black phenotypes at El Corazon (1988). well as new localities such as Sierra de San Two brown phenotypes were seen with two 566 THE WILSON BULLETIN l Vol. III, No. 4, December 1999 A I I 700 64O B I I 70” 640 FIG. 1. A. Historical range of Pauxi paui according to Delacour and Amadon (1973), Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps (1978), Collar and coworkers (1992) and Rodriguez and Rojas-Suarez (1995). B. Current range of fat.& pauxi in Venezuela.
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