J. RaptorRes. 27(2):121-122 ¸ 1993 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. NEST RECORD AND DIETARY ITEMS FOR THE BLACK HAWK-EAGLE (Spizaetustyrannus) FROM THE YUC,•T,•NPENINSULA J. LuIs RANGEL-SALAZAR Departamentode EcologfaTerrestre, Centro de Investigacionesde QuintanaRoD, ApdoPostal d2d, 77000 Chetumal,Quintana RoD, Mgxico PAULA L. ENRIQUEZ-ROCHA ApdoPostal d-071, 06dO0Mgxico, D.F., Mgxico Most large tropical raptors are poorly known, partic- breasthigh of 1.94 m and foliagebeginning at 9.2 m. The ularly thosespecies that inhabit New World tropicalfor- nest was 17.2 m above the ground and had the following ests.We believethat the continuingdecline of raptor pop- dimensions:outer diameter = 0.70 m, outer depth = 0.66 ulationsin tropical forestsis due to habitat loss,shooting, m, bowl diameter = 0.4 m, and bowl depth ranged from 5.1-7.6 cm. An immature bird was seen on 8 March close trade, pesticideuse, and exoticcompetitors (Ramos 1985, to the nest.On 7 April we measuredthe nestand collected Thiollay 1985). However, little is known regardingthe prey items. Adult birds were heard but not seennear the life historyand ecologyof large raptorsthat inhabit those nest on that date. forests. Nest materialswere identifiedas zapote (Minilkara za- The Black Hawk-eagle (Spizaetustyrannus) is a large pote), txalam (Lysilomalatisiliquia), and a vine (Styzo- NeDtropicalspecies inhabiting lowland forests, forest edg- phyllumriparium). Sticks ranged from 20-45 cm in length es, and partially clearedwoods. The speciesis resident and from 0.5-1.5 cm in diameter. from central Mexico to Bolivia, Paraguay, and north- Keel-billed Toucans (Ramphastossulfuratus) were easternArgentina and southeasternBrazil (Blake 1977, the most abundantprey species(Table 1). Mammals rep- resented17.6% of the total prey remains. Amadon and Bull 1988). Black Hawk-eagles are uncom- mon to common in Belize (Clinton-Eitniear 1986) and DISCUSSION Guatemala (Vannini 1989). Their populationsare de- The eagle nest we report was in a fork of one of the creasingin Mexico due to habitatloss (Ramos 1986), but tallest treesin the area. A nest of the Black Hawk-eagle •t is not consideredto be a vanishingspecies (Burton 1987) foundin Panamawas in the crownof a royal palm (Roys- nor is it listed as threatened in Mexico (SEDUE 1991). toneasp.) 13.5 m abovethe ground (Smith 1970), and was It has, however,been reportedless frequently on the Yu- doublethe outer diameterbut considerablyshallower than catan Peninsulathan the endangeredOrnate Hawk-eagle our nest. The nest we describe was similar to those re- (S. ornatus;Paynter 1955, L6pez-Ornat et al. 1989). Al- portedfor the Ornate Hawk-eagle in Tikal (Flatten et al. 1989), but only about half as large. most no information is available on breedingbiology or In contrastto our dietaryresults, Clinton-Eitniear (1986) food habitsand only one nest site has been describedin reported small mammals as the most commonfood for the Panama (Smith 1970). In this paper we describea Black Black Hawk-eagle. Although the Ornate Hawk-eagle eats Hawk-eaglenest and documentsome dietary items for the primarily small mammals, toucansalso representan im- species. portant resourcein the breeding season(Madrid et al 1991). Both eaglescommonly eat severalbird and mammal SITE LOCATION AND METHODS species,and reptiles have been identified in their diet a The nestwas in a tropicaldeciduous forest in the central few times (Smith 1970, Clinton-Eitniear et al. 1991). part of QuintanaRoD on the YucatanPeninsula (19ø40'N The nest we describewas also occupiedin the 1990 88ø05'W). Terrain there is flat and lessthan 40 m above breeding season(M. Cab pers. comm.); a juvenile and sealevel. The mean annual temperatureis 27øCand mean adults were seen on four occasions near the nest. It is annualprecipitation is 1200 mm fallingmainly from May- possiblethat the Black Hawk-eagle breedsonly everythird October. year in Yucatan as it doesin Panama (Smith 1970). The We measured the nest and collected food remains in Ornate Hawk-eagle also nestsevery third year in Tikal and below the nest. Prey were identified using bird and (Madrid et al. 1991). mammal reference collections of the Instituto Nacional de Tourism and deforestationfor cattle ranching and the InvestigacionesForestales y Agropecuariasin Bacalar.Nest timber industry are reducinghabitat for large eaglessuch construction materials were also collected and identified asthe Black Hawk-eagle in the Yucatan Peninsula.Future in the Centro de Investigacionesde Quintana RoD her- studiesshould be focusedon the ecologyof this speciesso barium in Chetumal City. that conservationefforts may follow. Particularly needed is informationon breedingbiology, diet, and home range RESULTS size. The nest was found on 7 March 1991 in a 23 m tall mahoganytree (Swieteniamacrophylla) with a diameterat RESUMEN.--Unnido del Aguila Tirana Spizaetustyrannus 121 122 SHORTCOMMUNICATIONS VOL. 27, NO. 2 Table 1. Prey remainsof Black Hawk-eagle (N-- 17) ceedingsof the WesternFoundation of VertebrateZoology. collectedon 7 April 1991,in CentralQuintana Roo, Mix- Los Angeles,CA U.S.A. ß iCO. BLAKE,E. 1977. Manual of Neotropicalbirds. Vol. I. Univ. of Chicago Press,Chicago, IL U.S.A. NUMBER OF BURTON,P. 1987. Vanishing eagles.Chartwell Books PREY ITEMS PERCENT Inc., Secaucus,NJ U.S.A. CLINTON-EITNIEAR,J. 1986. Statusof the large forest Mammals eaglesof Belice. Birds Prey Bull. 3:107-110. Yucatan Squirrel 1 5.9 , M.R. GARTSIDEAND M.A. KAINER. 1991. Or- ( Sciurusyucatanends ) nate Hawk-Eagle feeding on green iguana. J. Raptor Squirrel 1 5.9 Res. 25:19-20. (Sciurussp.) FLATTEN,C., J. MADRID, A. HERNANDEZAND R. GER- Raccoon 1 5.9 HARDT. 1989. Observacionesdel nido de un Aguilu- (Procyonlotor) cho de Penacho (Spizaetusornatus). Reporte de Pro- Total mammals 3 17.7 gresoII. ProyectoMaya. The Peregrine Fund, Inc., Boise, ID U.S.A. Birds LOPEZ-ORNAT,A., J. LYNCHAND B. MACKINNON. 1989. Keel-billed Toucan 7 41.2 New and noteworthy recordsof birds from the eastern (Rarnphastossulfuratus ) Yucatan peninsula. WilsonBull. 101:309-409. Collared Aracari 2 11.7 MADRID,J., H. MADRID, S. FUNES,J. L6PEZ,R. BOTZOC (Pteroglossustorquatus ) ANDA. RAMOS. 1991. Biologlade la reproducci6ny Unidentified 5 29.4 comportamientodel Aguila Elegante (Spizaetusorna- Total birds 14 82.3 tus), en el Parque Nacional de Tikal. Reportede Pro- Total prey 17 100.0 gresoIV. ProyectoMaya. The PeregrineFund, Inc., Boise, ID U.S.A. PAYNTER,R. 1955. The ornithogeographyof the Yu- se encontr6 cerca de la Reserva de la Bi6sfera de Sian catan peninsula. Bull. No. 9. Peabody Museum of ka'an, Quintana Roo, M•xico. E1 nido se localiz6a una Natural History, Yale Univ., New Haven, CT U.S.A. altura de 17.18 m sobre un arbol de Caoba de 23 m de RAMOS,M. 1985. Endangeredtropical birds in Mexico alto. E1 nido present60.70 m de difimetro externo, 0.66 and northern Central America. Pages305-318 in I. m de profundidadexterna, 0.43 m de difimetrointerno y 0 05 a 0.075 m de profundidadinterna. Los restosali- Newton and R. Chancellor lEDS.], Conservationstud- menticiosencontrados fueron principalmentedel Tucfin ies on raptors. Vol. 5. ICBP Technical Publication, Piquiverde y del Tucancillo Collarejo. Tambi•n se en- Cambridge, U.K. contraron restos de mamiferos y otras aves. E1 Aguila 1986. Birds in peril in Mexico: the diurnal Tirana no se ha consideradocomo una especieque est• raptors. Birds Prey Bull. 3:26-42. amenazaday tampocose encuentraen la lista mexicana SEDUE. 1991. Diario Oficial de la Federaci6n. Tomo de aves a proteger. CDLII (12):17-36. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SMITH,N.G. 1970. Nestingof King Vulture and Black We would like to thank M. Cab, C. Gonzalez, H. Hawk-Eagle in Panama. Condor72:247-248. Bahena and E. Escobedo for field assistance. Thanks es- THIOLLAY,J.M. 1985. Falconiformsof tropical rain pecially to J. Espinozafor commentsand English trans- forest:a review. Pages 155-165 in I. Newton and R. lation, to J. Nava for identification of mammal remains, Chancellor[EDS.], Conservation studies on raptors.Vol. and to E. Cabrera for identificationof plants.J. Clinton- Eitniear and P.H. Bloomprovided helpful commentson 5. ICBP Technical Publication,Cambridge, U.K. the manuscript. VANNINI,J. 1989. Neotropicalraptors and deforestation: noteson diurnal raptors at FincH E1 Faro, Quetzal- LITERATURE CITED tenango,Guatemala. J. Raptor Res. 23:27-38. AMADON,D., ANDJ. BULL. 1988. Hawks and owls of the world: a distributional and taxonomic list. Pro- Received29 September1992; accepted25 February 1993 .