Ampliación del rango de distribución del chango llanero Quiscalus lugubris (Icteridae) en Colombia

New localities for the Carib Grackle (Quiscalus lugubris) in Colombia are detected, records for the Caribbean coast of Colombia come from the departments of Magdalena and La Guajira. The records are obtained in the birds in Tropical dry Forests and coastal wetlands monitoring program. The range extension of populations are an indicator of the deterioration of the natural ecosystems of the region, according to the anthropophily of the species.Se presentan nuevas localidades para el Chango Llanero (Quiscalus lugubris) en Colombia, los primeros registros para la costa Caribe de Colombia provienen de los departamentos del Magdalena y La Guajira. Los registros son resultado del monitoreo de avifauna en Bosques secos Tropicales y Humedales costeros. La ampliación del rango de distribución de las poblaciones es indicador del deterioro que han sufrido los ecosistemas naturales de la región, dada la antropofilia de la especie

Aves del departamento del Cauca - Colombia

The Cauca department with its biogeographic diversity is one of the most diverse departments in bird species of Colombia. Looking for quantify the richness reported to the date and look at their geographical distribution, we made a information compilation about bird records in the department of Cauca by reviewing publications and ornithological collections in several world museums. We obtained a list of 1,102 species, including 18 endemic spp., 96 north migratory spp. and 41 nationally endangered spp.. This check list is a suitable tool for bird study in Cauca and is a reference to understand different bird topics in southwestern Colombia

Nuevos registros el águila Rabiblanca (Parabuteo unicinctus) en el suroccidente de Colombia

Harris’s Hawk is found from the south of the United States in Texas and Arizona to the north of Argentina. In Colombia, due to the absence of recent records from the middle part of the Cauca River valley this species has been considered extinct, and in the upper Patía River valley this species has been categorized as Vulnerable. The habitat loss is considered the most important reason for this regional extinction. In this document, we present five recent records of this species from the middle part of the Cauca River valley and the upper Patía River valley demonstrating that the species is not extinct from these two regions. Key words: Parabuteo unicinctus, Cauca river valley, upper Patía river valley, Colombia, DistributionEl Águila Rabiblanca se distribuye desde el sur de Estados Unidos en Texas y Arizona hasta el norte de Argentina. En Colombia, debido a la ausencia de registros recientes ha sido considerada extinta en la parte media del valle del río Cauca, y en el valle alto del río Patía la especie ha sido categorizada como Vulnerable, la pérdida de hábitat es considerada la principal causa de esta extinción regional. Presentamos cinco registros recientes de esta águila en la parte media del valle geográfico del río Cauca y el valle alto del río Patía demostrando que la especie no se encuentra extinta en estas dos regiones.Palabras clave: Parabuteo unicinctus, Valle del río Cauca, Valle alto del río Patía, Colombia, Distribución

Nuevos registros del Frutero Pigmeo (Pipreola chlorolepidota), primer ejemplar colectado en Colombia

The Pygmy Fruit Tree (Pipreola chlorolepidota) is a species of cotinga inhabitant of forest areas along its distribution in the Amazon and the eastern slope of the Andes in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia in an altitudinal range between 250 and 1600 m (Ridgely and Tudor 1994). The species is listed globally as Near Threatened (NT) (BirdLife International 2000). In Colombia, it has lost 40% of its habitat and is in the Vulnerable category (VU) (Restrepo et al., 2002).El Frutero Pigmeo (Pipreola chlorolepidota) es una especie de cotinga habitante de áreas boscosas a lo largo de su distribución en la Amazonía y la vertiente oriental de la cordillera de los Andes en Perú, Ecuador y Colombia en un rango altitudinal entre los 250 y 1600 m (Ridgely and Tudor 1994). La especie está catalogada a nivel global como Casi Amenazada (NT) (BirdLife International 2000). En Colombia, ha perdido el 40% de su hábitat y se encuentra en la categoría Vulnerable (VU) (Restrepo et al. 2002). 

Ampliación del rango de distribución del chango llanero Quiscalus lugubris (Icteridae) en Colombia

Se presentan nuevas localidades para el Chango Llanero (Quiscalus lugubris) en Colombia, los primeros registros para la costa Caribe de Colombia provienen de los departamentos del Magdalena y La Guajira. Los registros son resultado del monitoreo de avifauna en Bosques secos Tropicales y Humedales costeros. La ampliación del rango de distribución de las poblaciones es indicador del deterioro que han sufrido los ecosistemas naturales de la región, dada la antropofilia de la especie

Distribution of birds in Colombia

1.  Colombia with 1941 known recorded bird species is one of the most species rich countries in the world. Efforts are necessary to conserve, study and promote sustainable use of this important taxonomic group throughout Colombia’s vast territory.2.   In an ideal world, informed decisions that are based on sound scientific information should be likelier to have successful outcomes. Nevertheless, there are barriers that make it difficult to access and use information in a timely fashion. Those same barriers impede the study, conservation, and sustainable use of birds in Colombia. On the other hand, given that there is good documentation about the ecology of a large number of species, information about the distribution of birds can be easily incorporated into decision-making processes, once this information becomes readily available in a consumable format using Geographic Information Sciences tools.3.  In this context the main objective of this paper is to present the first compilation of the current distribution of 1889 (97%) species of birds in Colombia, using expert criteria. The shapefiles were used to show the distribution and diversity of bird species in Colombia under both geopolitical and conservation geographic units.4.   The information provided in this paper can be used as a baseline for a huge number of initiatives that aim to strengthen conservation efforts and improve knowledge about one the most unique taxonomic groups in the country. These range from land use planning strategies at the municipal or department scale to sustainable use of bird species - such as those initiatives related to bird watching - in Colombia.This study has considered three key aspects: 1) the importance of birds for Colombia’s ecosystems, 2) the privileged place of Colombia in bird species richness, and 3) the importance of data mobilization in formats easily consumable by Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to facilitate the processes of informed decision-making. We present the first compilation - in shapefile format - for 1889 of the 1941 bird species recorded from Colombia. Using this novel collection we showed the species richness of birds in Colombia’s 33 departments plus its Captial District (DP), 1122 municipalities (MNs), 58 protected areas (PAs), 39 Regional Autonomous Corporations (the authorities responsible within their respective jurisdictions for regulating the environment and renewable natural resources in Colombia; CARs), and 916 Collectively Titled Territories (including both indigenous reservations and afro-descendant communities; CTTs). In addition, we provide a list of known bird species richness for the above geographic units found in the available literature. The information provided here can be used as a baseline for a huge number of initiatives concerning the study, conservation and sustainable use of bird species present in Colombia, providing access to key features of bird distribution that should facilitate decision-making

Avifauna de Popayán y municipios aledaños

During the last four years, it has been carried out a characterization of the birds of Popayán (Cauca) and five bordering municipalities. The observations were made at the “Formación Popayán” in 26 localities; nine of which, were sampled constantly between 2001 and 2005 in the activities of national counts in Colombia. Simultaneously, the records were supplemented by the review of the ornithology´s collection of the Museo de Historia Natural of the Universidad del Cauca. These activities allowed to generate a complete list of the current birds in a range of 1600-2800 m, finding 338 bird species of birds gather in 55 families, being this an important achieve in the knowledge of the local avifauna and generating a basic tool for the people who is interested in this fauna group and for the future conservation processes in the study area. Keywords: birds, Popayán, Formación Popayán, Cauca, Colombia.Durante los últimos cuatro años se adelantó un estudio de caracterización de la avifauna de Popayán (Cauca) y cinco municipios aledaños. Las observaciones se realizaron en 26 localidades de la Formación Popayán (Torres 1997), nueve de las cuales han sido monitoreadas entre 2001 y 2005 en las actividades de Conteos Nacionales liderados por la Red Nacional de Observadores de Aves de Colombia (RNOA). La información fue recopilada por observación de campo y revisión de la Colección de Ornitología del Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca. A la fecha, el estudio ha generado un listado de 338 especies de aves agrupadas en 55 familias, distribuidas entre los 1600-2800 msnm.Palabras clave: Aves, Popayán, Formación Popayán, Cauca, Colombi

CracidMex1: a comprehensive database of global occurrences of cracids (Aves, Galliformes) with distribution in Mexico

Cracids are among the most vulnerable groups of Neotropical birds. Almost half of the species of this family are included in a conservation risk category. Twelve taxa occur in Mexico, six of which are considered at risk at national level and two are globally endangered. Therefore, it is imperative that high quality, comprehensive, and high-resolution spatial data on the occurrence of these taxa are made available as a valuable tool in the process of defining appropriate management strategies for conservation at a local and global level. We constructed the CracidMex1 database by collating global records of all cracid taxa that occur in Mexico from available electronic databases, museum specimens, publications, “grey literature”, and unpublished records. We generated a database with 23,896 clean, validated, and standardized geographic records. Database quality control was an iterative process that commenced with the consolidation and elimination of duplicate records, followed by the geo-referencing of records when necessary, and their taxonomic and geographic validation using GIS tools and expert knowledge. We followed the geo-referencing protocol proposed by the Mexican National Commission for the Use and Conservation of Biodiversity. We could not estimate the geographic coordinates of 981 records due to inconsistencies or lack of sufficient information in the description of the locality.Given that current records for most of the taxa have some degree of distributional bias, with redundancies at different spatial scales, the CracidMex1 database has allowed us to detect areas where more sampling effort is required to have a better representation of the global spatial occurrence of these cracids. We also found that particular attention needs to be given to taxa identification in those areas where congeners or conspecifics co-occur in order to avoid taxonomic uncertainty. The construction of the CracidMex1 database represents the first comprehensive research effort to compile current, available global geographic records for a group of cracids. The database can now be improved by continuous revision and addition of new records. The CracidMex1 database will provide high quality input data that could be used to generate species distribution models, to assess temporal changes in species distributions, to identify priority areas for research and conservation, and in the definition of management strategies for this bird group. This compilation exercise could be replicated for other cracid groups or regions to attain a better knowledge of the global occurrences of the species in this vulnerable bird family