Birds of Cerro Blanco: new records and richness update

Dry season: A total of 146 species, belonging to 37 families, were recorded, comprising 89% of the expected species. Twelve new records were found for the Cerro Blanco Protected Forest in accordance with the published lists. Of the total number of species, 62% (90) belonged to the order Passeriformes. The most abundant families were Tyrannidae (18%), Accipitridae (9%), Thraupidae (8%), Furnaridae (5%), the remaining families (32) had percentages between 4 and 1% each. Of the species found, 32 are endemic to the Tumbeisina region and 10 are migratory species (austral or boreal). At the Jaguar sampling site, 111 species (26 endemic) were found, followed by Zona 507 with 105 species (25 endemic), Turismo with 103 species (24 endemic) and Pigío with 90 species (22 endemic). Rainy season: a total of 159 species were recorded, belonging to 45 families. Of the total number of species, 55% (88 species) belonged to the order Passeriformes. The most abundant families were Tyrannidae (15%), Thraupidae (12%), Accipitridae (7%), Columbidae and Furnariidae (9% each). The remaining families (40) had percentages between 7 and 1%. The bird sample showed 34 species endemic to the Tumbesian region, representing 23% of the total. A total of 11 endemic species reported are in some category of threat and a total of 7 migratory species. The reported species were assigned to 5 trophic groups. The most representative trophic group was Insectivore with 66 species in total, followed by Omnivore (33), Carnivore (29), Frugivore (20), Granivore (11). According to the published lists, 15 new records were found for BPCB during the wet season. This shows the need to produce new comprehensive standardised lists of BPCB avifauna and to intensify wet season monitoring in order to assess avian diversity adequately and comprehensively.