Foto Gill Carter
Micrastur mintoniNew Neotropical falcon
04-08-2003A new species of raptor from the rainforests of south-eastern Amazonian Brazil, extreme eastern Bolivia and the Atlantic forests of eastern Brazil, has been found. The species has been named the Cryptic Forest-falcon Micrastur mintoni.
The paper’s author, Andrew Whittaker, heard an unfamiliar forest-falcon call whilst birdwatching at Caxiuanã, Pará, Brazil. Using tape playback, he saw the bird which closely resembled a Lined Forest-falcon M. gilvicollis (*), although there were a few subtle plumage differences.
Convinced he had found a new cryptic taxon, Whittaker subsequently examined forest-falcon specimens at the Museu Paraenese Emílio Goeldi in Belém, Brazil. There he found that 23 specimens matched the bird he had seen at Caxiuanã, whilst only 12 were correctly labelled as gilvicollis. Similarly, a search of museum sound archives revealed that many recordings were in fact attributable to the new species and not to gilvicollis, clearly confirming his earlier suspicions.
Apart from call, the main difference between the two species is the shorter tail and its patterning. Adult mintoni have one broad white central tail band, subadults have two broad white to buff bands. In contrast, adult and subadult gilvicollis have a longer tail with two distinctly narrower white tail bands, and immatures have two or three white to buff narrow bands. Other differences include mintoni’s more frequently contrasting dark forehead, crown and nape, slightly more extensive orange skin above the eye, bolder horizontal upper breast barring, less extensive lower underpart barring, and lack of a buff wash on the breast.
Currently the Amazonian population of Cryptic Forest-falcon is secure. The same is not true for the separate population in Brazil’s Atlantic forests, an area that has suffered extensive deforestation and is the focus of BirdLife’s Brazil Program. Further surveys are urgently needed to assess Cryptic Forest-falcon’s current status in this region, where it may already be extinct.
The Wilson Bulletin (114): pp. 421-445
(*) http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.goedegebuur/roofvog/gebandeerdebosvalke.html
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Klein, B. C. and R. O. Bierregaard, Jr. 1988. Capture and telemetry techniques for the Lined Forest Falcon, Micrastur gilvicollis. Raptor Research 22: 29.Klein, B. C. and R. O. Bierregaard, Jr. 1988. Movement and calling behavior of the Lined Forest-falcon (Micrastur gilvicollis) in the Brazilian Amazon. Condor 90: 497-499.
ALTRA NOTIZIA:
http://worldtwitch.virtualave.net/brazil_bird_reports.htm#micrasturA New Species of Forest-Falcon (Falconidae: Micrastur) from Southeastern Amazonia and the Atlantic Rainforests of Brazil. By Andrew Whittaker. Wilson Bulletin 114(4): 421-561 (December 2002, published June 2003). The new species, Cryptic Forest-Falcon, Micrastur mintoni, is found mainly in undisturbed terra firme forest with dense understory. It is quite similar to Lined Forest-Falcon, M. gilvicollis, with which old specimens were confused. Andy Whittaker discovered it by voice in 1997 at Cauxianã Biological Station. After calling in the bird with replay, he examined specimens of "gilvicollis" at the Goeldi Museum in Belém and discovered that they included about equal numbers of the two forms. M. mintoni is found from eastern Amazonas south to Bolivia and east to the Maranhão coast. In addition, there are three old specimens from southern Bahia and northern Espírito Santo, but no recent records from Atlantic Forest. From the map in the article, it appears that the Atlantic specimens ranged from the vicinity of Una, BA to the vicinity of Sooretama, ES. M. mintoni's known Atlantic range thus includes a few sites with extensive tall lowland forest, such as Monte Pascoal National Park in BA and the Sooretama reserve in ES, where the bird may still occur.
