Endangered Chaco Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) pair successfully completes breeding after human reconstruction of their nest

GALLEGO, D.; SARASOLA, J.H.

JOURNAL OF RAPTOR RESEARCH

RAPTOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC

Lugar: Lawrence, Kansas; Año: 2022

0892-1016

The Chaco Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) is one of the rarest and most threatened raptors in the Neotropical region (Sarasola et al. 2018, 2021), and is listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (BirdLife International 2016). It inhabits a variety of forested landscapes, including savannah-like ecosystems, open woodlands, and dry shrublands, fromnorthern Patagonia in Argentina to southern Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001).In Argentina, the species occupies the Monte Desert, Espinal, and Chaco ecoregions. The primary threats to the species? populations include habitat loss, direct persecution, electrocution on power lines, and drowning in water reservoirs (Bellocq et al. 1998, Sarasola and Maceda 2006, Sarasola et al. 2010, 2020, 2021, Fandi?no and Pautasso 2013, Barbar et al. 2016, Galmes et al. 2018). In centraleastern Argentina, the Espinal and Chaco ecoregions suffered a loss of almost 38% of the original native forest habitat during the last century due to the transformation of these areas into croplands and cattle ranching areas (Brown et al. 2006). As a result, the range occupied by the Chaco Eagle in the ecotone between those ecoregions declined 36% (Fandi?no and Pautasso 2013). Because of the ongoing habitat transformation in the Chaco Eagle?s distributional range, the lack of suitable nesting sites seems to be a significant constraint for its populations (Bellocq et al. 1998). However, like many other raptors (review in Bird et al. 1996), the Chaco Eagle may sometimes use human-made structures for nesting (Sarasola 2018).