Subject of this study
Hide photography
Species identification
Species names
English and portuguese translations
This site is about the avifauna of Ceará, a state in tropical northeastern Brazil. I am a resident here, I am interested in the local fauna, and I am studying the bird life in my surroundings, mainly in the following locations:
- Mãe-da-lua private reserve, 764 hectares, municipality of Itapajé, about 100 km west of Fortaleza. The reserve is owned by the non-profit organization "Associação Mãe-da-Lua", founded in 2006 by Hermann Redies and Rebeca da Alcântara e Silva. Part of the reserve is flat land; and part is low mountain range, with altitudes up to 650 m. Much of the vegetation, especially in the higher altitudes, is well-preserved, mature secondary growth with an impressing biodiversity, which includes 150 bird species, and mammals like the Brown Capuchin monkey (Cebus apella) and the wild cat Felis tigrina. See Habitat and climate. I live next to the reserve since 2006.
- Fazenda Canaã, 261 hectares, in the municipality of Pentecoste, about 60 km west of Fortaleza. The farm is situated in lowland ("depressão sertaneja"), and most of the vegetation is secondary growth arboreal caatinga, 3-8 m high. See section Habitat and climate for more details. I lived in the fazenda from 2001 to 2006, and visited several times in 2009.
- Other locations. Since 2009, I am including observations and material from other places in Ceará, in semiarid caatinga, or with different habitats, like humid mountains, (Baturité), mangroves, beach. In these cases, details about the location are stated on the respective species pages.
I spent countless hours in the field, taking pictures and recording vocalizations. Section List of species shows the bird species I could positively identify. All this is "work in progress", and new data are being added as they become available.
For copyright and recommended citation, please click here.
For photography and observation, I often use self-made bird watching hides, for example this mobile plywood hide, and I also have a 5 m high observation tower. Hides and tower were positioned wherever I saw a promising situation. For instance, this picture of the cactus parakeet was taken from the observation tower, placed close to a cirigüela tree (Spondias purpurea) with ripe fruits.
Sometimes, bait was used to attract birds to the vicinity of a hide. For doves and finches, seeds were scattered on the ground. Vultures were lured with sheep intestines.
Most species were identified visually, or by combining visual and acoustic clues. Some species were identified by their vocalizations alone, for example Nyctibius griseus, the "Mother-of-the-moon" (Mãe-da-Lua), which is quite common in this region, and which I hear a lot, but which I have not yet seen.
An outstanding internet site for identification of bird voices is xeno-canto by Bob Planque and Willem-Pier Vellinga.
The most important books for species identification were the following:
For Passeriformes: "The Birds of South
America", by Ridgely and Tudor,
vol. 1 (1989),
and
vol. 2 (1994);
the "Handbook of the Birds of the World",
vol. 8 and
vol. 9.
For non-Passeriformes:
The "Field guide to the Birds of South America" by
Mata et al. 2006;
"Handbook of the Birds of the World",
vol. 1 and
vol. 5.
Sometimes birding guides for neighboring countries,
like "Birds of Venezuela" by
Hilty 2003, and "A
Guide to the Birds of Colombia", by
Hilty and Brown 1986.
Additionally, I have consulted many other books and papers; see
References.
Scientific and English names are according to the proposal of the South American Classification Committee. At present, most Portuguese names are from Sick 1997, and some are from other sources, like CBRO.
The "species pages" sometimes also state the first published scientific name, and author and year of the publication, for the species (small letters, in black) and/or subspecies (small letters, in brown). See example. Occasionally, I added other synonyms as well. When consulting older literature, this information can be useful in finding out to which taxon a now obsolete species name refers.
I am now preparing a bilingual version (english/portuguese) of the site. The portuguese pages are going live as they become available, starting in August 2009. My native language is German, am I am sure that the English and Portuguese text contains a fair number of errors in grammar and vocabulary. For this, I apologize in advance. If you come across a passage that is difficult to understand, please send me an e-mail.