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Notes on a Range Expansion and Summer Diet of the Mountain Caracara in the Andes of South-Central Chile

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Notes on a Range Expansion and Summer Diet of the Mountain Caracara in the Andes of South-Central Chile 290 LETTERS VOL. 38, NO. 3 j. RaptorRes. 38(3):290 ¸ 2004 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. COMMENSALFORAGING BY A RED-SHOULDEREDHAWK (Btm•o LINEATUS)WITH WILD TUP,g•YS ( MELEAGRIS GALLOPAVO) On 6 August 2003, I observedan instanceof commensalforaging by a Red-shoulderedHawk (Buteolineatus) with Wild Turkeys(Meleagris gallapavo). I beganwatching a flock of 15 adult turkeysat 0745 H from a distanceof 250 m (through 10 X 40 binoculars)as they foraged in a weedy,grazed pasture bordered by an oak-hickory(Quercus-Carya) woodlot near the mouth of Crooked Creek on the White River, Marion County, Arkansas (36ø13.6'N, 92ø28'W). At 0900 H a juvenile Red-shoulderedHawk flew acrossthe pasturetoward the turkeysand perched on a low branch at the forest edge. As the hawk approached, the turkeyscackled and ran into the forest but all emerged from cover within 1-2 min and resumedfeeding in the pasture some 5-15 m from the fbrest edge. Over the next 90 min, the hawk followed the turkeys as they meandered 225 m southwardalong the ecotone. On five occasionsthe hawk dropped to the ground from a low perch (2-4 m above ground) at the edge of the woodlot to capture small prey items with its talons.After consumingthe prey on the ground, the hawk would walk a few steps,pause, and then fly to another perch within 5-8 m of the leading front of the turkey flock. The turkeysshowed little reaction to the hawk except for one hen, which reigned a lunge toward the hawk on the ground from ca. 5 m away.The observations ended when the turkeysand hawk moved out of sight around a bend of the woodlot. About an hour later, I followedthe path of the turkeysand found grasshoppers(primarily Syrbulaadmirabilis, Arphia szmplex,Cortophaga virid•fasciata, Hippiscus ocelote, and Dissosteiracarolina) to be fairly abundantin the pasture.It seems probable that the hawk wasfeeding on grasshoppersflushed by the turkeys.This observationappears to be the first report of commensalforaging by the Red-shoulderedHawk (Crocoll 1994, In A. Poole and F. Gill lEDS.],The birds of North America,No. 107. The Academyof Natural Sciencesand AmericanOrnithologists' Union, Washington,DC U S.A.). I thank Bill Pranty,Michael McCrary, and Jerry Mastel for commentson the manuscriptand Bob Yeider for hospitalityon the White Riven--Gary R. Graves (e-mail address:[email protected]), Department of Zoology, MRC-116, National Museum of Natural History, SmithsonianInstitution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington,DC 20013 U.S.A. Received 5 September 2003; accepted 21 March 2004 Associate Editor: Michael I. Goldstein j. RaptorRes. 38 (3) :290-292 ¸ 2004 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. NOTES ON A RANGE EXPANSION AND SUMMER DIET OF THE MOUNTAIN CARACARA IN THE ANDES OF SOUTH-CENTRAL CHILE The Mountain Caracara(Phalcoboenus megalopterus) ranges from sealevel to 5000 m in Peril, Bolivia,northwestern Argentina,and Chile (Arayaand Millie 1996,Guia de campode lasaves de Chile, 7th Ed., EditorialUniver., Santiago, Chile;Gonz•dez and Malaga1997, Ornithol.Neotrap. 8:57-69). Although the speciesis knownto inhabitmuch of Chile (18-33%; Araya and Millie 1996), the southern limit of its distribution is unclear in the literature. Basedon a bird collected by Bridges in 1843 (Fraser 1843, Proc.Zool. Soc. Lond. 11:108-121), various authors list the Mountain Ca- racara'ssouthern-range limit as Colchagua(34ø35'S, 71ø24'W; Hellmayr 1932, Birds of Chile, FieldMus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool.S• 10:1-472, Goodall et al. 1951, Avesde Chile, Vol. 2, Platt EditoresGr/tficos, Buenos Aires, Argentina). The Bridges' collection site is not exactly known, but it has been assumedto be the Colchagua Province (Paynter 1988, Ornithological Gazetteerof Chile, Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard Univ., Cainbridge,MA U.S.A.). FollowingPhilippi (1964, Pnvest.Zool. Chil. 11:1-74), other authorshave extendedthe southernlimit of the Mountain Caracara'srange south to Talca (Johnson 1965, The birds of Chile, Vol. 2, Establ. Gr•tficos,Buenos Aires, Argentina; Fjelds5and Krabbe 1990, Birds of the high Andes, Appolo Books, Svendborg,Denmark). Philippi (1964), however,does not SEPTEMBER 2004 LETTEP, S 291 explain the rationale for this extension,and it is not clear if he refers to the city of Talca (32ø25'S,71ø40'W) or the province(34-35øS, 70-72øW). Recently,Figueroa et al. (2000, Bol. Chil. Ornitol.7:2-12) recorded the Mountain Garacarain the Huemules del Niblinto Nature Sanctuaryand National Reserve(henceforth, Niblinto Sanctuary;36ø45'S, 71ø30'W) near Nevados de Ghillfin in the Andes mountain range, ca. 140 km south of the southern boundary of Talca province. This record potentially representsa new southern limit of the distribution of the Mountain Garacara.Figueroa et al. (2000) mentioned that the caracaraswere recorded in the vicinity of Baul Mountain (36ø44'56"S,71029 '12'%V), but did not give details about those observations. Here, we describe observationsof Mountain Garacarasmade during three consecutiveyears in the same area studied by Figueroa et al. (2000). Niblinto Sanctuaryis a rugged area ca. 10 000 ha in size, with elevationsranging from 800-2200 m and slopesup to 45ø. Topography includes valleys,plateaus, and numerous ridges dissectedby deep ravinesthat carry water during winter and spring. The vegetationis composedprimarily of mixed-deciduous Nothofagusforests and shrublandscharacterized by a diversityof high-Andean species(Figueroa et al. 2000). The Niblinto Sanctuaryis a jointly managed private/public wildlife protected area forming part of the Nevadosde Ghillfin, a priority site for biodiversityconservation in Ghile (Mufioz et al. 1996, Libro rojo de los sitios prioritarios para la conservaci6nde la diversidadbio16gica en Ghile, Gorporaci6n Nacional Forestal, Santiago, Ghile). On 26 February 2001, two adult Mountain Garacaraswere seen around Baul Mountain in the Niblinto Sanctuary The next day, a juvenile Mountain Garacara (identified by plumage; Brown and Amadon 1968, Eagles,hawks and falcons of the world, Vol. 1, Gountry Life Books, London, U.K.) wasseen in the same area. On 29 January 2002, two adult Mountain Garacaraswere perched on the north slope of Golchon Mountain, 5 km southwestof Baul Mountain On the same day, two adult Mountain Garacaraswere also observed near Las YeguasMountain, 4 km northeast of GolchonMountain and 3 km northwestof Baul. On 23 February 2002, two adultswere seenchasing a juvenile around Baul Mountain. More recently, on 2 February 2003, one adult Mountain Garacarawas seen near Baul Mountain. Becauseonly one or two individual Mountain Garacaraswere observed at each sighting, we are not sure if more than one pair occurred at our study site. Diurnal raptors frequently exhibit long local movements (Newton 1979, Population ecologyof raptors, T. & A.D. Poyser,London, U.K.) and so our records may correspond to only one pair Even so, we believe that sightingsof the Mountain Garacara obtained during three consecutiveyr in the Nibhnto Sanctuaryare sufficient evidenceto extend the species'southern distributionalrange. Including theserecords of the Mountain Garacara,a total of 12 diurnal and four nocturnal raptors have been recorded in the Niblinto Sanctuary (Figueroa et al. 2000), supportingthe importance of this site for the conservationof Andean biodiversity(Mufioz et al. 1996). During our study period in the Niblinto Sanctuary,we also obtained limited inibrmation on the diet of Mountain Garacaras.From 24-28 February 2001, we collected 20 pellets below a cliff on Baul Mountain, where a Mountain Garacarapair was observedroosting. We observedthe roosting site from dawn to sunset (0700-2100 H) for all 5 d using a telescope (60X) and binoculars, and pellets were collected every morning or afternoon. During this period, no other raptors were observedon the cliff. The Mountain Garacara'spellets were similar in appearanceto pellets of the Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango)and Crested Caracara (Polyborusplancus; pers. obs.). Pellets were dis- sectedin the laboratory using forceps to separateall prey remains. Becausemost of the pellets were broken, we were unable to obtain quantitativeinformation on diet; however,we attempted to identify prey remains and thus develop a qualitativedescription of the diet of this Mountain Caracarapair. Of all prey itemsidentified (N = 54), mostwere insects(94%; identified by head capsulesand elytra). Coleopterans (genera:Epipedonata, Ectinogonia, Polycesta, Tibionema, Ryephenes, Sphenognathus, Aegorhinus) predominated (89%), al- though some Orthopterans (Aucacrisspp.) were noted (5%). The Plain-mantledTit-Spinetail (Leptasthenuraaeg•thal- oides;identified by feathers), an unidentified bird, and the great rock rat (Aconaemysfuscus;identified by skull) were the only vertebrate speciesdetected, each accountingfor 2% of the prey items recorded. The large number of terrestrial insectsfound in the pellets is consistentwith the Mountain Caracara'sforaging habits. This speciesis adept at ground foraging, scratching,and stamping to disturb insectsliving underground or beneath rocks (Jones 1999, WilsonBull. 11:437-439). Although our information is limited, our resultsare similar to information on this raptor's diet reported by others (Johnson 1965, Brown and Areadon 1968). To our knowledge, however, no study has used pellets to assessdiet of this species.Perhaps, pellets are difficult to find becauseareas typicallyinhabited by Mountain Caracarasare rugged and inaccessible.Because our data are based on a small and geographically-limitedsample, further investigationis necessaryto understand the food habits of
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