Neotropical Birding B Girdin Magazine of the Neotropical Bird Club • Number 13 • Fall 2013
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Neotropical Birding B GIRDIN MAGAZINE OF THE NEOTROPICAL BIRD CLUB • NUMBER 13 • FALL 2013 FEATURE PHOTOSPOT Taxonomy and song of Mexican Hermit “Weird Wings”: the enigmatic 4 Phaethornis mexicanus 43 Eleothreptus nightjars of Paraguay STEVE N. G. HOWELL P AUL SMITH IDENTIFICATION WORKSHOP Do juvenile Cinereous Mourners 47 Laniocera hypopyrra mimic large, hairy 8 Vocal field marks of Unspotted Saw- caterpillars? whet Owl and Guatemalan Pygmy Owl JOHAN INGELS AND MATHIEU ENTRAYGUES KNUT EISERMANN FRONT COVER SPLITS, LUMPS, SHUFFLES Adult male Unspotted Saw-whet Owl 14 Splits, lumps and shuffles Aegolius ridgwayi, Yalijux Important ALEXANDER C. LEES Bird Area (IBA GT010), Alta Verapaz department, Guatemala, February 2013. GLOBALLY THREATENED BIRDS KNUT EISERMANN / CAYAYA BIRDING / WWW.CAYAYA- BIRDING.COM) Another wake-up call for the 24 conservation of the Yellow-naped Parrot Amazona auropalliata JO SEPH TAYLOR CAPITAL BIRDING Belém, Pará, Brazil 32 ALEXANDER C. LEES, NÁRGILA G. DE MOURA, SIDNEI M. DANTAS & IAN THOMPSON Scarlet Ibises Eudocimus ruber, Salinopolis, Pará, Brazil, March 2011 (A.C. Lees). >> CAPITAL BIRDING BELÉM, PARÁ, BRAZIL Capital Birding: Belém, Pará, Brazil Alexander C. Lees, Nárgila G. de Moura, Sidnei M. Dantas & Ian Thompson The north-eastern corner of the Brazilian Amazon has long been a popular tourist destination but has largely been shunned by visiting birders—this despite the heady mix of tropical rainforest, mangroves, natural grasslands and seashore that host a rich and varied avian community. This article highlights the ornithological prospects of a region that has much to offer foreign and domestic birders alike. Scarlet Ibises Eudocimus ruber a flagship species of the Pará mangroves, Salinópolis, March 2011 (A.C. Lees). 32 Neotropical Birding 13 Left: Black-masked Finch Coryphaspiza melanotis marajoari, one of few field photographs of this taxon currently considered endemic to Marajó, December 2011 (A.C. Lees). Right: Grassland Yellow Finch Sicalis luteola a common resident of grassland and agricultural land on Marajó, December 2011 (A.C. Lees). ying about 100 km upriver from the Atlantic all year round. Annual rainfall is about 2.9 metres Ocean, on the Guamá river, Belém is the with a ‘drier’ season from June to November. L capital of the state of Pará and the largest city in Amazonia after Manaus. The city has long Birding in the city been overshadowed as a tourist destination by Much of the city and many of its small urban parks Manaus and is rarely-visited by foreign birders, are neither a particularly desirable nor safe place to both on account of its lower species richness in go birding, and wandering around with expensive comparison to western Amazonia sites, and its optics is probably a sure-fire way of getting general lack of eco-tourist infrastructure. However, mugged; Belém has a bad reputation for crime so the region does boast an impressive avifauna it is not advisable to take risks in the city itself. with over 490 species recorded historically from However, the observant tourist without bins will the metropolitan region alone (Novaes & Lima not fail to notice the hundreds of Black Vultures 2009), the product of both intense historical Coragyps atratus around the famous Ver-o-peso collecting by the likes of Alfred Russel Wallace market and the colony of Great Egrets Ardea alba and Emily Snethlage and more recent fieldwork and Cocoi Herons A. cocoi at the square in Batista by ornithologists at the Goeldi Museum. These Campos, along with huge flocks of noisy Canary- 490 species include a suite of restricted range winged Parakeets Brotogeris versicolurus, the latter taxa not available anywhere else to the world to be looked for especially in the late afternoon birder (see table) and a number of species that are in the mango trees in front of the Nazaré church. difficult to find elsewhere in the country that are of One (optics-friendly) park that deserves a brief considerable interest to Brazilian listers. Founded mention is the Jardim Botânico Bosque Rodriques in 1616 by the Kingdom of Portugal, it was the first Alves on the Avenida Almirante Barroso, a well- European colony on the Amazon, not becoming preserved, although very busy urban fragment. part of Brazil until 1775. Since then the city has Here we have recorded Short-tailed Hawk grown to house over two million people—the 11th Buteo brachyurus, Straight-billed Woodcreeper most populous city in Brazil, and the resultant Dendroplex picus, Yellow-breasted Flycatcher urban sprawl and demand for land has come at a Tolmomyias flaviventris and Bright-rumped Atilla cost to most of the undisturbed primary rainforest Attila spadiceus amongst other commoner urban vegetation in the region. Belém is just 1°27’ south species. The park is open from Tuesday to Sunday, of the equator and enjoys a humid tropical climate between 08h00 and 05h00 (admittedly not ideal with monthly mean maximum and minimum birding hours), is well served by buses and costs a temperatures close to 31°C and 22°C respectively nominal R$ 1 (US$ 0.50) to enter. Surprises are, of Neotropical Birding 13 33 >> CAPITAL BIRDING BELÉM, PARÁ, BRAZIL course possible, we have seen the odd Peregrine Tachornis squamata, and Blue-chinned Sapphire Falco peregrinus hunting amongst the sky-scrapers Chlorostilbon notatus. The observation platform and ACL and NGM once caught by hand a lost over the wide river Guamá is good at low tide with migrant Ruddy Quail-Dove Geotrygon montana the mud attracting a few migrant waders such as outside our house after an evening run! If you Semipalmated Plover Charadrius semipalmatus only have a couple of hours to spare, then another and Semipalmated Calidris pusilla and Spotted destination for a quick visit is the Mangal das Sandpipers Actitis macularius with Laughing Garças (http://www.mangalpa.com.br/). This safe Gulls Leucophaeus atricilla, Large-billed Terns site is basically a waterfowl gardens with various Phaetusa simplex and Black Skimmers Rynchops pinioned and free-flying ducks and waterbirds niger passing by offshore. The park lies close to the with walk-in aviaries housing other captive historic centre of the town and is reached along tropical species (watch-out for escapes!), but the the Passagem Carneiro da Rocha, close to the remnant vegetation around it may produce a few junction of the Rua do Arsenal and the Avenida wild birds of note such as Grey-necked Wood Almirante Tamandaré. It is open Tuesday-Sunday Rail Aramides cajaneus, Neotropical Palm Swift 0900–1800 (at 1°27’49’’S 48°30’18’’W) and boasts Regionally endemic taxa and where to find them. English name Latin trinomial Where to see Bare-faced Crax fasciolata pinima May be close to global extinction. Only likely to persist in the Reserva Curassow Biológica do Gurupi, Maranhão. Dark-winged Psophia (viridis) obscura Critically Endangered. Persists in a few large forest patches in the south of Trumpeter the region without general access. Ssp. obscura split by Oppenheimer & Silveira (2009). Pale-tailed Threnetes leucurus Reasonably easy to find in riparian forests close to Belém, e.g. around Bom Barbthroat medianus Jesus. Red-necked Aracari Pteroglossus bitorquatus Persists in larger forest remnants around Belém, e.g. around Marituba and bitorquatus the Parque Ecológico do Gunma. Golden-green Piculus (chrysochloros) Inexplicably rare, with few recent records from the extreme south of the Woodpecker paraensis region. Recently afforded species status by Del Rio et al. (2013). Ringed Celeus torquatus Also inexplicably rare, with few recent sightings. Woodpecker pieteroyensis Ruddy Spinetail Synallaxis (rutilans) Reasonably easy to find in disturbed primary forests near treefall gaps and in omissa secondary forests. A likely future split. Amazonian Barred Dendrocolaptes (certhia) Persists in larger primary and old secondary forest remnants around Belém, Woodcreeper medius e.g. around Utinga and the Parque Ecológico do Gunma. White-chinned Dendrocincla (merula) Confined to large patches of primary forests, where rare and associated with Woodcreeper badia army ants. No sites easily accessible. Much smaller than all other races of merula and a likely future split. Cinnamon-throated Dendrexetastes rufigula Unrecorded for many years but recently refound in extensively forested areas Woodcreeper paraensis in the south of the region and may yet be rediscovered close to Belém. White-shouldered Thamnophilus (aethiops) Relatively easy to find in primary and old secondary forests anywhere in the Antshrike incertus region. White-backed Pyriglena (leuconota) One of the commonest antbirds, occurring in most forest habitats. To be Fire-eye leuconota looked for at and away from antswarms. Black-spotted Phlegopsis nigromaculata Uncommon and patchily distributed, but still occurs close to Belém at Utinga Bare-eye paraensis and the Parque Ecológico do Gunma Wing-barred Piprites chloris griseicens Now apparently restricted to large areas of primary forests in the south of Piprites the region, where uncommon. Black-masked Coryphaspiza melanotis Restricted to open natural grassland on the Island of Marajó; try along the Finch marajoari road between Salvaterra and Cachoeira do Arari. Opal-rumped Tangara velia signata Rare in large undisturbed primary forests in the south of the region. Tanager 34 Neotropical Birding 13 one of the best restaurants in the Amazon region. Spinetails Synallaxis gujanensis and other scrub- The site is a short taxi ride from the city centre and loving species; we found a nest of American is also served well by buses for the more streetwise Pygmy Kingfisher Chloroceryle aenea here within Brazilian birder. 300 m of the park headquarters in February 2013. Viewing the lakes is relatively easy from T he metropolitan region the boardwalk that runs out from the reserve headquarters/visitor centre and along the loop Still within the metropolitan area is the Parque road that runs next to it. There is even an old Estadual do Utinga (Utinga state park, www.