SHORT COMMUNICATIONS J. RaptorRes. 34(2):148-150 ¸ 2000 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. FIRST NESTING RECORD OF THE NEST OF A SLATY-BACKED FOREST-FALCON (MJCRASTURMIRANDOLI•I) IN YASUNi NATtONAL PAm•, ECU•DOmAN AMAZON TJITTE DE VRIES AND CRISTIANMELO Departamentode Biologia, Pontifida Universidad Cat61ica del Ecuador, Apartado 17-01-2184, Quito, Ecuador KEY WORDS: Slaty-backedForest-Falcon; Micrastur miran- first falconwas smaller and probablythe male of the pair. dollei; first nestingrecord; stick nest;, Ecuad• After the male flew into the forest, the female walked to the nest and stood on the edge for 2-3 min before it The genus Micrasturconsists of six species,all having disappearedinto the forest at 1642 H. At 1732 H, the a furtive life in humid and wet forests in Central and female returned and perched in a tree 10 m from the South America (Hilty and Brown 1986, del Hoyo et al. nest and preened and cleaned its clawsas if it had just 1994). The Barred Forest-Falcon(M. ruficollis)and the eaten prey. At 1745 H, the female flew into the forest Collared Forest-Falcon(M. semitorquatus)are known to and did not return before we left at 1830 H. We con~ nest in tree cavities (Mader 1979, Thorstrom and Morales cluded that the birds we observedwere not Grey-bellied 1993, Thorstrom et al. 1990, Thorstrom et al. 1991, Thor- Hawks (Accipiterpoliogaster) because the female had a strom et al. 1992) but there is no information on the pure white belly and the facial area was notably yellow breeding of the PlumbeousForest-Falcon (M. plumbeus), and the male was slightlybuff below.They alsohad long SlaW-backedForest-Falcon (M. mirandollei)and Buckley's legsand three narrow, dirty white tail bands. Forest-Falcon(M. buckleyi)(del Hoyo et al. 1994). Del The nest wasbuilt in a fork of a secondary,horizontal Hoyo et al. (1994) mention the only nest record of the branch at a height of about 15 m. It was rather flimsy Lined Forest-Falcon(M. gilvicollis).The bird wasrecord- and made of small twigs but deep enough to hide the ed using a stick nest but, becauseall other records for head of the male from below and only 5-7 cm of the tail the genusinvolve cavity nests, they concludedthat it was could be seen. The nest tree wasa P•cussp. (Moraceae) not a valid record. Apparently, this record was also dis- situatedbetween the forest edge and a road, where there m•ssedby Bierregaard (1998) who listed the nest of this wasa 8-m stretch of grassyvegetation where an oil pipe- speciesas undescribed.Here, we describea sticknest and line was buried. Traffic on the road was moderate with incubation of the SlaW-backedForest-Falcon (Micrastur only 10-20 oil company vehicles using the road daily. mzrandollei). When we found the nest, the nest tree was completely The nestwas found on a routine road censusof nesting leafless. RoadsideHawks (Buteomagnirostris), White Hawks (Leu- On 23 October, we observed the nest from 0600-1230 copternisalbicollis) and Ornate Hawk-Eagles( Spizaetusor- H and 1500-1830 H. When we arrived, the female was natus) in Yasuni National Park. The park is situated at incubating. At 0935 H, she stood up, called six times 230 m elevationand hasrelatively pristine forest. Biolog- ("kiu-kiu-kiu-kiu-kiu-kiu") within 20 sec and flew to a ical diversityin YasuniNational Park is among the highest branch on a nearby dead tree. The male flew to the same in the world with as many as 825 woodyspecies recorded branch and, after I min, the female flew into the forest. in 2 ha (Romolerouxet al. 1997). There are 27 species At 1015 H, a light rain started to fall and the male flew of birds of prey listed for the park and jaguars (Panthera to the nest and began to incubate. When the rain onca) and Harpy Eagles (Harpia harpyja)are seen regu- stopped (1100 H), the male flew to the previousperch larly, indicating the forest'spristine condition. and, at 1110 H, disappeared into the forest. At 1200 H, The nestsite was 50 km southof the Napo River at km a Green Oropendola (Psarocoliusviridis) settled in a dead 6.5 on the road to the Yasuni Research Station. We ob- tree closeto the nest and immediatelywas attacked and served the behavior of a pair of SlaW-backedForest-Fal- driven awayby one of the two falcons.This falcon settled cons at this nest on 14 September1997 using 10 X 42 on the nest and brooded until 1230 H when observations binocularsand 20-50 X spottingscope from 1500-1830 were stopped. When we returned at 1500 H, a falcon was H. A falcon we began observing on the nest at 1500 H sitting on the nest and it remained there until 1830 H left the nest when a second falcon arrived at 1635 H and when it became dark. perched 5-6 m away.Both birds perched <1 m from When changeoversoccurred, no prey was brought to each other for severalmin, enabling us to see that the the brooding falcon and no new nest material wasadded. 148 JUNE2000 SHORTCOMMUNICATIONS 149 We did not see the nest being built so we did not know de M. gilvicollisutilizando un nido de ramas ha sido con- if the falcons had taken an old nest made by another siderada dudosa y por 1o tanto merece verificaci6n. El species,but we felt that this wasunlikely because we did nido de M. buckleyiafin no se conoce. not see the nest on our regular censuses.Sixty dayslater [Traducci6n de autores] (22 December 1997), the nest was observed between ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 0600-1200 H and 1500-1830 H but neither falcon was seen so we were not able to determine if the pair was These observationshave been possible thanks to the successfulin fledging young. The nest remained unoc- Project "Ecologia de Rapaces Ecuatorianos" of PUCE cupied from January-April 1998 and, in August 1998 and the Project PUCE-FUNDACYF-BID 114 "Estudiosde Leguminosasy su Fauna Asociada." We thank K.H. when the tree lost its leaves,the nest had already begun Voous, P. Salaman and C. Macinnes for comments on an to fall apart. When we revisited the site in August 1999, earlier draft and we are grateful for the suggestionsof no trace of the nest was left. three anonymous reviewers. While it is rare, nest building does occur in a variety of cavity-nestingspecies. The Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta LITERATURE CITED monachus),for example, is the only tree nestingpsittacid BIERREGAARD,R.O. 1998. Conservation status of birds of that does not excavatea nest-hole or use a preexisting prey in the South American Tropics.J. RaptorRes. 32: one. Instead, it builds a large enclosednest out of inter- 19-27. woven twigs and sticks (Forshaw 1978, del Hoyo et al. DELHOYO, J. 1997. Handbook of the birds of the world. 1994). Columbids such as the Stock Dove (C01umbaoenas) Vol. 4. Lynx Editions, Barcelona,Spain. are also cavitynesters but many speciesbuilt flimsy stick , A. ELLIOTTAND J. SARGATAL[EDS.]. 1994. Hand- nests.Among the falconids,the PeregrineFalcon (Falco book of the birds of the world. Vol 2. Lynx Edicions, peregrinus)nests in treesbut it doesnot build its own nest. Barcelona, Spain. Nevertheless, caracaras such as the Carunculated Cara- DEVRIES, T., J. BLACK,C. SOLiSAND C. HERNANDEZ.1983. cara (Phalcoboenuscarunculatus) build a variety of nests Historia natural del curiquingue Phalcoboenuscarun- ranging from exposedledge neststo nestshidden in crev- culatusen los p/tramos del Anfisana y Cotopaxi del ices of rocky outcrops or holes in cliffs to stick nestsin Ecuador. Edicionesde la Universidad Cat61ica,Quito, trees (Larrea 1987). They carry nest material such as Ecuador. large sticksand dry grassand line their nestswith wool FORSHAW,J.J. 1978. Parrots of the world. David and when available (de Vries et al. 1983). The Laughing Fal- Charles, London, U.K. con (Herpetotherescachinnans) uses tree cavities,old stick HILTY, S.L. ANDW.L. BROWN.1986. A guide to the birds nests, scrapes in epiphytes and cliffs (del Hoyo et al. of Colombia. Princeton Univ Press, Princeton, NJ 1994), but there are no reports of nestingmaterial being U.S.A. carried and the actual building of the nest. Of the six LARREA,F. 1987. Biologiareproductiva y bosquejode dis- Micrasturspecies, two ( M. plumbentsand M. gilvicollis)are tribuci6n del curiquinguePhalcoboenus carunculatus en suspected of nesting in tree cavities (Salaman pers. el p/tramo de El Angel, Ecuador. Thesis, Ponfificia comm. Thiollay pers. comm.), and nestsof M. buckleyi Universidad Cat61ica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador. have not yet been discovered. MADER,WJ. 1979. First nest description for the genus Micrastur (forest falcons). Condor81:320. RESUMEN.--Seobserv6 a una pareja del Halc6n-Mont•s ROMOLEROUX, K., R. FOSTER,R. VALENCIA, R. CONDIT, H. Dorsigris (Micrasturmirandollei) ocupando un nido hecho BALSLEVAND E. LOSOS.1997. Arbolesy arbustos(dap con ramas en el Parque Nacional Yasuni,en la Amazonia sobre 1 cm) encontrados en dos hectfireas de un Ecuatoriana a 230 m. E1 nido estaba a 15 m de altura en bosquede la Amazonia ecuatoriana.Pages 189-215 zn una rama lateral de un Ficus (Moraceae), al borde de una R. Valencia and H. Balslev lEDs.], Estudios sobre diw carretera abierta por una compafiia petrolera. Se hici- ersidady ecologia de plantas.Memorias del II Con- eron observacionesdurante 4 dias (9 y 14 de Septiembre, greso Ecuatoriano de Botfinica, PUCE, Ecuador. 23 de Octubre y 22 de Diciembre de 1997). Ambossexos THORSTROM,R.K. ANDC.M. MORALES.1993. Breeding bi- incuban, pero durante el cambio de parejasni presasni ology,food habits,and home range of the Barred For- ramas fueron traidas al nido. No se obtuvo informaci6n est-Falcon(Micrastur ruficollis) in Guatemala.J.