Noteworthy ornithological records from the threatened campinas of the lower rio Tocantins, east Amazonian Brazil

Volume: 134Start Page: 247End Page: 25

Paragominas:a quantitative baseline inventory of an eastern Amazonian avifauna

We present the results of a five-month survey of the birds of Paragominas, Para, a municipality in eastern Brazilian Amazonia that lies within the Belem center of endemism. We recorded 440 species, sampling habitats across a gradient of disturbance, ranging from 'undisturbed' primary forest, through logged and burnt forest, patches of varyingly aged secondary forest, cattle pastures and intensive mechanized agriculture. Given the potential for species miss-identifications in avian inventories, we paid special attention to obtaining voucher documentation (photographs and sound recordings) and here provide a unique collection of publically-accessible digital vouchers for 418 species recorded (95% of the total). Many of the species reported here are poorly-known or represent notable range-extensions, and we present data on their status and distribution, both within the municipality and elsewhere in the Belem center of endemism. Notable amongst these include the first records for Para and Amazonia of Spotted Piculet (Picumnus pygmaeus), trans-Tocantins range-extensions for Large-headed Flatbill (Ramphotrigon megacephalum) and Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak (Parkerthraustes humeralis) and multiple observations of the threatened paraensis subspecies of Cinnamon-throated Woodcreeper (Dendrexetastes rufigula)

One hundred and thirty-five years of avifaunal surveys around Santarem, central Brazilian Amazon

We present an updated annotated avifaunal checklist for the Santarem region of central Para state, Brazil, an area that has one of the oldest histories of ornithological exploration in South America. We combine data from a five-month quantitative survey of the birds of the municipalities of Santarem and Belterra (east of the Tapajos River) between 2010 and 2011 with an exhaustive search of material in museum collections worldwide and digital vouchers deposited online. Our own survey sampled habitats across a gradient of disturbance ranging from 'undisturbed' primary forest, through logged and burnt forest, patches of secondary forest, cattle pastures and intensive mechanized agriculture. Given the potential for species misidentifications in avian inventories, we paid special attention to obtaining voucher documentation. Here we present a collection of publicly accessible digital vouchers for all of the new species, in addition to providing museum catalogue numbers for all old records. We added 24 species to the regional list, principally species associated with anthropogenic land-uses, but also including seven species restricted to primary forest habitats which were missed from both recent published inventories and over the course of two centuries of intensive collecting efforts. The regional list now stands at 583 species for which voucher documentation is available, with an additional 26 undocumented species. Many of the species reported here are poorly known or represent notable range extensions, and we present new data on their status and distribution