Rediscovery of the Crested Eagle Morphnus guianensis (Daudin, 1800) in the fragmented Atlantic Forest of Bahia, Brazil

Rodrigo Costa Araújo,Luís Fábio Silveira,Daniel Eduardo Da Luz

doi:10.1007/bf03544286

Rodrigo Costa Araújo, Luís Fábio Silveira + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03544286

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Journal: Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia	Publication Date: Mar 1, 2015
Citations: 3	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universidade de São Paulo

Abstract

We here report the second documented record of Crested Eagle Morphnus guianensis from the Bahian Atlantic Forest, from a 2,300 ha patch of Tabuleiro forest in a pasture-matrix. The only previous documented record from Bahia is from the beginning of the 19th Century. This is the first record of this eagle from fragmented landscapes in the Atlantic Forest, in an isolated forest patch five times smaller than minimum expected home-range size. This observation suggests that M. guianensis may outlast the habitat fragmentation in Atlantic Forest landscapes, potentially relying upon multiple forest patches to hunt. The eagle was photographed after a failed predation attempt on a group of Golden-headed Lion Tamarins Leontopithecus chrysomelas. It is the first record of a potential prey species for Crested Eagles in the Atlantic Forest.

Highlights

The Crested Eagle (Morphnus guianensis) is a rare, patchily-distributed, forest-dwelling eagle occurring from southern Mexico (Chiapas) to Argentina (Misiones)
Owing to massive loss of the lowland Atlantic Forest, the Crested Eagle is Critically Endangered in São Paulo (Silveira et al 2009), Minas Gerais (COPAM 2010) and Espírito Santo (Ipema 2005), and Possibly Extinct in Rio de Janeiro, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul (Bergallo et al 2000, Bencke et al 2003, Mikich & Bérnils 2004)
The only recent record from an unprotected area is from Grão Pará, Santa Catarina, where a pair were reported soaring in thermal air currents over forest fragments in 2005 (Albuquerque et al 2006)

Summary

Introduction

The Crested Eagle (Morphnus guianensis) is a rare, patchily-distributed, forest-dwelling eagle occurring from southern Mexico (Chiapas) to Argentina (Misiones). The few records from Atlantic Forest are mostly undocumented, very old (> 25 years), from the coast from Bahia (Wied-Neuwied 1820) to Rio Grande do Sul (Sick 1997). The only recent record from an unprotected area is from Grão Pará, Santa Catarina, where a pair were reported soaring in thermal air currents over forest fragments in 2005 (Albuquerque et al 2006).

Results

Conclusion