Glaucidium mooreorum, Silva, Coelho & Gonzaga, 2003

Pereira, Glauco Alves, Dantas, Sidnei de Melo, Silveira, Luís Fábio, Roda, Sônia Aline, Albano, Ciro, Sonntag, Frederico Acaz, Leal, Sergio, Periquito, Mauricio Cabral, Malacco, Gustavo Bernardino & Lees, Alexander Charles, 2014, Status of the globally threatened forest birds of northeast Brazil, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia (São Paulo) 54 (14), pp. 177-194 : 186

Glaucidium mooreorum

Silva, Coelho & Gonzaga, 2002,

Pernambuco Pygmy-owl (IUCN: CR)

Documented records of this enigmatic species include just the type series of two individuals collected in November 1980 and a single sound-recording obtained in October 1990 from the Reserva Biológica (REBIO) de Saltinho, Pernambuco. Since its description, the species has been extensively sought-after by many different fieldworkers in forest fragments across the PCE using playback of the single vocal sample available (see Roda & Pereira, 2006; Roda et al., 2011). These searches have resulted in just one subsequent undocumented sight record of a single bird observed at Usina Trapiche in November 2001 (Silva et al., 2002). Our own playbacks elicited a mobbing response in small passerines (e.g., Red-headed Manakin Ceratopipra rubrocapilla, Olivaceous Woodcreeper Sittasomus griseicapillus, Variable Oriole Icterus pyrrhopterus ) at Engenho Cachoeira Linda, Mata do Roncadorzinho, and other fragments e.g., the Usina Trapiche (Mata do Dêra, Mata do Sá and Engenho Jaguaré) which we may interpret as evidence of the historic occurrence of G. mooreorum in these localities. Given the absence of records for a minimum period of 12 years, we consider that this species may be potentially extinct. Galileu Coelho (pers. comm.) regularly heard one or more individuals of this species singing near the main house of the Saltinho research station until the start of the 1990’s. Pygmy-owls belonging to the Glaucidium minutissimum species complex (which also includes G. hardyi ) (Marks et al., 1999) occur at low densities in well-preserved forest physiognomies, so there is now very little suitable habitat left for this species in the PCE. However, there are several precedents for the rediscovery of cryptic night birds (e.g., Halleux & Goodman, 1994; King & Rasmussen, 1998) and we encourage observers to keep looking, just in case.

Philydor novaesi Teixeira & Gonzaga, 1983 , Alagoas Foliage-gleaner (IUCN and MMA: CR)

Discovered at Murici, Alagoas in 1979 ( Teixeira & Gonzaga, 1983), this species has only ever been found at this type locality and the RPPN Frei Caneca, Pernambuco ( Roda, 2008; Roda et al., 2011, Fig. 5 ). This is one of the most highly sought-after species (by both visiting birders and professional ornithologists alike), and ourselves and others have searched extensively for this species in forest fragments across the PCE (even in forest patches outside of the ‘known’altitudinal range) but with no success. Playback of vocalisations of the Alagoas Foliage-gleaner – a nuclear species in mixed-species flocks (acting to aggregate, and orientate other flock members), attracted facultative flock-following heterospecifics (Mazar-Barnett et al., 2005; Roda, 2008; Roda et al., 2011), such as the Long-billed Gnatwren Ramphocaenus melanurus (at Murici and Bonito), Rufous-winged Antwren Herpsilochmus rufimarginatus and White-flanked Antwren Myrmotherula axillaris (at Mata do Estado). We interpret the reaction of these flock-following species as expressing interest in joining a flock and evidence for the historic occurrence of this species at Mata do Estado, Engenho Água Azul, Bonito and Gravatá. This species was last recorded from Murici in 2007 (sound-recording in Minns et al., 2009 and image here: http://ibc.lynxeds. com/photo/alagoas-foliage-gleaner-philydor-novaesi/ perched-adult) and last recorded from Frei Caneca in September 2011 (CA, video-recording) despite subsequent intensive searches at both these localities. Along with Pernambuco Pygmy-owl, we consider the Alagoas Foliage-gleaner likely extinct following forest loss, fragmentation and degradation. The disappearance of these species represent the first evidence for extinctions of endemic Brazilian birds in modern times (see Lees et al., 2014a).

Figures

FIGURE 5: Philydor novaesi Teixeira & Gonzaga, 1983, Alagoas Foliage-gleaner, Frei Caneca, PE, November 2007 (Ciro Albano).