Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Important ornithological records from Minas Gerais state, Brazil

2006; British Ornithologists' Club; Volume: 126; Linguagem: Inglês

2513-9894

Marcelo Ferreira de Vasconcelos, Santos D’Ângelo Neto, Guy M. Kirwan, Marcos R. Bornschein, Mauro Guimarães Diniz, Jose Francisco Da Silva,

Geography and Environmental Studies

Minas Gerais state, in south-east Brazil, harbours a rich avifauna of almost 800 species (Mattos et al. 1993). Such high species richness is a result of the region’s complex vegetation, as the state possesses Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Caatinga, and transitional zones between these biomes. It is also one of the most mountainous areas of the country, with two main ranges: the Serra do Espinhaco and Serra da Mantiqueira, atop which can be found typical vegetation known, respectively, as rupestrian fields (campos rupestres) and high-altitude grasslands (campos de altitude). (Other habitat terms have been described in earlier papers, particularly Kirwan et al. 2001, 2004, to which readers are referred for further details.) Recently, new data concerning range extensions and noteworthy records for birds in Minas Gerais have been presented by several authors (e.g. Willis & Oniki 1991, Parrini & Pacheco 1997, Cordeiro et al. 1998, Machado et al. 1998, Melo Junior et al. 1998, Silveira 1998, Vasconcelos & Lins 1998, D’Angelo Neto 2000, D’Angelo Neto & Queiroz 2001, D’Angelo Neto et al. 2001, Kirwan et al. 2001, 2004, Ribon & Maldonado-Coelho 2001, Raposo et al. 2002, Ribon et al. 2002, Vasconcelos et al. 2002a,b, 2003a,b, 2004, D’Angelo Neto & Vasconcelos 2003, 2004, Marini et al. 2003, Rodrigues & Gomes 2004, Vasconcelos & Silva 2004). Here, we present further new data on the distribution and, occasionally, for particularly poorly known birds, behaviour of 42 bird species in Minas Gerais, of which at least three are certainly new for the state and several are globally threatened (BirdLife International 2004).