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Introduction
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December 2016 - April 2022
Center for the Study and Conservation of Birds of Prey in Argentina
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- Director
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Publications (117)
Birds can spatially aggregate in order to exploit food resources or to avoid predators, thus increasing their chances of survival. Raptors are usually solitary and territorial, but some species may aggregate for colonial breeding, roosting, or to join
large focks during migration. The Chaco eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) is one of the rarest and mos...
Patterns of variation in the size of vulture foraging groups, and their ecological causes and consequences, remain little explored despite strong links with the carrion recycling service that this key functional group provides. We documented the group size-frequency pattern of Andean condors Vultur gryphus gathered to feed on 42 equine carcasses ex...
Urban sprawl is recognized to homogenize biota, with several species that fail to adapt to these new human scenarios. However, some species can live and breed successfully in urbanized habitats. We compared the breeding performance of the relatively common raptor and poorly studied, chimango caracara (Milvago chimango) in an urban gradient of centr...
El Águila Coronada o Águila del Chaco (Buteogallus coronatus) es una de las especies de aves rapaces más amenazadas del Neotrópico. Argentina, junto con Brasil, Paraguay y Bolivia, es uno de los países en donde se distribuye esta especie categorizada como en peligro de extinción. Sin embargo, son pocas las provincias de Argentina donde la reproducc...
Given the vital role of power lines for social development, the rapid spread of such infrastructure worldwide and the fact that power lines can be one of the main causes of direct mortality for several species of birds and other wildlife, including mammals, it is essential to have suitable tools to ensure that these lines are built and maintained i...
Food selection is a key aspect of a bird's life history strategy, so understanding how birds respond to variation in food abundance is relevant to evaluating their general ecology and survival, and also the potential consequences of the degradation of environments impacted by livestock. We studied the dietary ecology of Vermilion Fly-catchers (VEFL...
Diurnal birds of prey are the predominant apex avian predators for most terrestrial ecosystems. Besides the role they play as top predators on food webs, raptors are also among the most susceptible species to the negative effects of habitat transformations and human perturbations, in part due to their large habitat requirements, low population dens...
(ES) El Águila Coronada o Águila del Chaco (Buteogallus coronatus) es una de las especies de aves rapaces más amenazadas del Neotrópico. Argentina, junto con Brasil, Paraguay y Bolivia, es uno de los países en donde se distribuye esta especie categorizada como en peligro de extinción. Sin embargo, son pocas las provincias de Argentina donde la repr...
Resumen
La condición corporal puede influir en diferentes procesos fenológicos que, a su vez, pueden ser desempeñados diferencialmente según la edad y sexo de los individuos. Presentamos la biometría, condición corporal, estado reproductivo y muda de la tijereta sabanera (Tyrannus s. savana), un migrante austral del Neotrópico. En La Pampa, Argenti...
Apex predators drive top‐down effects in ecosystems and the loss of such species can trigger mesopredator release. This ecological process has been well documented in human‐modified small areas, but for management and conservation of ecological communities, it is important to know which human factors affect apex predator occurrence and which mediat...
Resumen • La condición corporal de las aves puede estar influenciada por aspectos intrínsecos (ej., sexo, edad, comportamiento migratorio y reproductivo) y extrínsecos, como la presencia de actividades antrópicas (ej., ganadería). En este trabajo se describe la biometría y la condi-ción corporal del churrinche, según el sexo y la edad, y se estable...
Abstract In birds, obtaining information related to nest occupancy, offspring status or breeding success is essential for population monitoring, particularly for species of conservation concern. Traditionally, nest monitoring demands a lot of time and effort in order to gather accurate information and avoiding nest disturbance. Instead, Unmanned Ae...
Bothrops ammodytoides is a medium-sized pitviper endemic to Argentina that inhabits arid and semiarid rocky and sandy areas from sea level to more than 3000 m (Carrasco et al. 2010. Amphibia-Reptilia 31:323–338). The diet of this species is known to include small vertebrates such as lizards and less commonly, rodents (Cei 1993. Reptiles del Noroest...
The replacement of natural habitats by fields destined for agricultural-livestock production causes changes in species composition. Some species benefitting from these changes can become more abundant. Increased populations can alter trophic webs. In the center of Argentina, populations of the native eared dove (Zenaida auriculata) have increased s...
Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropica...
ContextUrbanization and artificial light at night (ALAN) are major drivers of local biodiversity losses causing community alterations, disruption of predator-prey interactions, and ultimately, promotion of cascading effects. However, some species can colonize urban environments.Objectives
We explore the role of ALAN as a driver of the colonization...
Arthropod-borne viruses represent the most important emerging viruses worldwide. Saint Louis encephalitis (SLEV) and West Nile (WNV) viruses are vectored by Culex spp. mosquitoes and amplified by several bird species. We carried out an extensive retrospective serosurvey study to analyze the exposure of free-ranging raptors to SLEV and WNV in centra...
Ríos, bañados, lagunas y efímeros charcos son lugares preciados por los animales, especialmente en la áridez de la ecorregión del Monte. También los llamados "tanques australianos" son fuentes de agua, pero pueden transformarse en verdaderas trampas mortales. Se están implementando algunas soluciones.
Electrocution is a widespread conservation problem for birds of prey that has received little attention in the Neotropics. Here we present electrocution records involving the endangered Chaco Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) in central Argentina, and we provide information on the power pole structural characteristics associated with electrocutions. Ni...
Understanding the mechanisms underpinning nest-site selection offers novel insights about selective forces shaping the breeding ecology of birds, and provides vital information for conservation planning. We evaluated and compared nest-site selection and breeding success of Vermilion Flycatchers (VEFL) and Fork-tailed Flycatchers (FTFL) in areas wit...
Behaviour is expected to be one of the most important factors driving urban living of bird species because it largely determines how animals interact with their environments. The contribution of different behavioural traits as facilitators of contemporary process of bird colonization of urban environments, however, is still unclear. Here we examine...
Este artículo no cuenta con un resumen.
Many raptor studies require the capture of individuals and selection of the most effective trapping techniques may be crucial to achieving research goals. We assessed the effectiveness of walk-in traps to capture a very common, but poorly studied Neotropical raptor bird, the Chimango Caracara (Milvago chimango) in different environments and we eval...
• Identifying the processes that determine avian migratory strategies in different environmental contexts is imperative to understanding the constraints to survival and reproduction faced by migratory birds across the planet.
• We compared the spring migration strategies of Fork‐tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus s. savana) that breed at south‐temperate...
Sexual differences in parental care investment may affect individual survival or performance, and also demography. We investigated parental-care behavior of the endangered Chaco Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) to evaluate implications for population conservation in semiarid habitats of central Argentina. From 2004 to 2012, we monitored three breeding...
This book will provide the state-of-the-art research on topics involved in the ecology and conservation of birds of prey. With chapters authored by the most recognized and prestigious researchers on each of the fields, this book will become an authorized reference volume for raptor biologists and researchers around the world.
The Neotropical region is renowned for its avian diversity and birds of prey are not an exception. This region hosts one of the greatest species richness of raptors and includes in this list some of the most singular and flagship representatives, such as the Andean condor and the harpy eagle. Many of the raptor species ranging in this region are al...
The introduction of agricultural activity (including livestock farming) in natural environments affects all the natural processes occurring there, from individual behavior and population dynamics to communities’ composition and flows of matter and energy, and from local to landscape scales.
Natal dispersal is a process whereby birds move from their birthplace to the site of their first attempt at reproduction. This process has strong implications for the dynamics and genetic structure of populations. However, studies on the dispersal of neotropical birds of prey are scarce. Here we investigated the post-fledgling and natal dispersal a...
Availability of nesting sites may be an important environmental constraint for birds of prey. Several population recovery programs for threatened and endangered raptor species focus on providing artificial nests sites, ranging from small boxes to large platforms. Artificial nests have been successfully used as a management tool to augment populatio...
High mortality by electrocution has been suggested to be the main factor behind the reduction of several birds of prey populations across the world. Almost nothing is known, however, about the impact of power lines on this group of birds in the Neotropical Region. Here we estimate electrocution rates for birds on power lines covering both arid and...
Viruses transmitted by arthropods represent the most important emerging virus in the world. The Saint Louis encephalitis (SLEV) and West Nile virus (WNV) are transmitting by Culex mosquitoes as vectors and several bird species as hosts. The purpose of this research was to study the exposure of birds of prey communities for SLEV and WNV in La Pampa...
Parental care in raptors is particularly important since it can have strong implications for their ecology and reproductive success. Chimango caracara (Milvago chimango) is the most abundant and common raptor in Argentina, as it nests in a wide variety of environments, including urbanized areas. However, there are no studies describing parental car...
Songbirds must annually undergo two energetically demanding but important activities: breeding and feather molt. Due to the high energetic investment that each demands, these two events are generally not carried out simultaneously. However, substantial variation in the level of annual reproductive investment among populations may result in variatio...
The Eared Dove (Zenaida auriculata) is one of the most abundant granivorous birds in the Neotropical region, and has been declared as a pest in several regions of southern South America. Most studies of this dove’s diet have been conducted in agricultural lands in order to evaluate crop damage and dove preferences for particular crop seeds. More re...
La electrocución de aves rapaces en tendidos eléctricos es una problemática ampliamente estudiada y evaluada en diversos continentes ya que este factor de mortalidad supone la muerte de miles de aves cada año y significa una seria amenaza para la conservación de sus poblaciones. Aunque se cuenta con abundante información científico-técnica generada...
The Crowned Solitary Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) is one of the rarest and most severely threatened birds of prey in the Neotropical region. We studied levels of neutral genetic diversity, population structure, and the demographic history of the species using 55 contemporary samples covering a large fraction of the species range, which were genoty...
Top predators play an important role to preserving healthy and functional ecosystems. Predatory interactions among generalist predators and native prey may be altered due to occurrence and availability of introduced prey species. These interactions seldom receive attention in biodiversity conservation, particularly when establishing protected area...
Top predators play an important role to preserving healthy and functional ecosystems. Predatory interactions
among generalist predators and native prey may be altered due to occurrence and availability
of introduced prey species. These interactions seldom receive attention in biodiversity conservation,
particularly when establishing protected area...
Understanding the annual cycle of migratory birds is imperative for evaluating the evolution of life-history strategies and developing effective conservation strategies. Yet, we still know little about the annual cycle of migratory birds that breed at south-temperate latitudes of South America. We aged, sexed, and determined the progression and int...
Large “hypercarnivorous” felids are recognized for their role as apex predators and hence as key elements in food webs and ecosystem functioning through competition and depredation. Here we show that cougars (Puma concolor), one of the largest and the most widely ranging apex felid predators with a strictly carnivorous diet, could also be effective...
Context. Hunting has demographic effects on large and medium carnivores, causing population reductions and even extinctions worldwide. Yet, there is little information on carnivore demographic parameters and spatial and temporal land-use patterns in areas experiencing sport hunting, thus hindering effective conservation plans for such areas. Aims....
A principios del siglo XIX los árboles estaban prácticamente ausentes de la Región Pampeana. El establecimiento de los colonos europeos y la modificación del hábitat natural fue acompañado de la forestación con especies exóticas, añadiendo complejidad estructural al paisaje. Algunas especies de aves han aprovechado estas modificaciones utilizando l...
The mite Ornithonyssus bursa (Berlese) (Mesostigmata: Macronyssidae) is considered a poultry pest causing important infestations in chickens and it is considered a potential vector of arbovirus. Despite being considered a common parasite in wild birds, there is scarce published information about its potential hosts and effects on them. Here we pres...
Natural environments have been greatly transformed by human populations and activities and the responses of species to these changes vary. In human-dominated environments, birds may adopt behaviours that enable them to adjust to these novel habitats. We analysed the reproductive ecology of a common and human-tolerant bird of prey, the Chimango Cara...
Aproximadamente la mitad de todas las especies conocidas de aves realizan desplazamientos migratorios, que son movimientos estacionales entre los lugares en que nidifican y se reproducen, en el verano, y aquellos en que pasan el invierno. Se estima que cada año se movilizan por esa causa alrededor de 50 mil millones de individuos. Actualmente la mi...
Las características de los sitios (microhábitat) y calidad de los territorios de nidificación (macrohábitat) influyen sobre el desempeño reproductivo de las aves rapaces. En este estudio analizamos las características del hábitat de nidificación, incluyendo la disponibilidad de presas, sobre los parámetros reproductivos del halcón plomizo (Falco fe...
The main objective of this study was to determine the taphonomic characteristics of ingested rodent prey remains recovered from White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus, Accipitriformes) pellets. Bones were analyzed in order to identify taphonomic features produced by this predator. Sampling was performed during the austral reproductive season of 2011 in...
Breeding populations of raptors are sometimes limited by nest-site availability and the use of nest boxes to bolster such populations is widespread. In the neotropical forest, little is known about the ecology of cavity-nesting raptors and their use of nest boxes. Here we examine occupancy patterns of nest boxes by five raptor species during eight...
Infanticide and cannibalism are behaviors exhibited between
individuals of the same species. Infanticide is aggressive
behavior in which a mature animal kills young offspring;
cannibalism is a feeding behavior exhibited by
genetically related or unrelated individuals of the same
species. Filial infanticide occurs when parents kill offspring
in thei...
This article documents the addition of 171 microsatellite marker loci and 27 pairs of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Bombus pauloensis, Cephalorhynchus heavisidii, Cercospora sojina, Harpyhaliaetus coronatus, Hordeum vulgare, Lachnol...
This article documents the addition of 171 microsatellite marker loci and 27 pairs of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)
sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Bombus
pauloensis, Cephalorhynchus heavisidii, Cercospora sojina, Harpyhaliaetus coronatus, Hordeum vulgare, Lachnol...
This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the cont...
We described ectoparasitic species such as chewing lice, mites, and louse flies in free-ranging
American Kestrels (Falco sparverius) in the semiarid forest of Argentina. From twenty-two adults and one
juvenile American Kestrel captured (fourteen females and nine males) during four breeding seasons
between 2005 and 2008, we found in seven birds (six...
Genes at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are known for high levels of polymorphism maintained by balancing selection. In small or bottlenecked populations, however, genetic drift may be strong enough to overwhelm the effect of balancing selection, resulting in reduced MHC variability. In this study we investigated MHC evolution in two re...
Many of the mechanisms involved in visual signalling in birds are based on pigment-based plumage ornamentation and colouration rather than the expression of other, non-plumage-based displays. We have analysed the colouration of the tarsi and ceres of free-ranging Chimango Caracaras Milvago chimango, a controversial morphological trait for this spec...
Ecología trófica del Halcón Plomizo (Falco femoralis) y su relación con la abundancia de presas en agroecosistemas pampeanos
Although the White-tailed Kite (Elanus leucurus) is widely distributed throughout the Americas, winter communal roosting has been recorded only in the Nearctic portion of its range. As a result, data on the food habits of the White-tailed Kite in South America during the nonbreeding season are scarce and, when available, limited to pellets from sol...
Raptors have been reported to prey on livestock, causing considerable conflicts between birds of prey and local human communities. Previous studies have documented that human persecution is the most important threat to the endangered crowned eagle Harpyhaliaetus coronatus in central Argentina, due to a local belief that crowned eagles heavily and c...
