Bamboo Birds Specialization in Southeastern Peru

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By Pepe Rojas (A freeland bird guide who has spend several years in the Tambopata area pepereds@hotmail.com)

Campylorhamphus Trochilirostris

Bird diversity reaches is zenith in the western part of the Amazon lowlands of South America; the more than 500 species of bird that have been recorded in the Explorers Inn area being an example of this. At Cocha Cashu within Manu National Park in southeastern Peru, Scott Robinson and Ted Parker established an amazing record of 324 species of birds recorded in one day and at one site, in less than a 2 mile radius, and entirely on foot or in canoe. One of the reasons for this high diversity is the diversity of habitats found in the region and the high degree of specialization that species have develop to exploit these habitats. Amongst these groups of species that have evolved a specialization with specific habitats are the bamboo specialists that live entirely in areas dominated by giant bamboo.

Bamboo stalks belonging to the genus Guadua are an important component in the landscape of the rainforest in areas in Southwestern Amazon especially in Madre de Dios, located in Southeastern Peru. Madre de Dios is particularly well knows for its incredible biodiversity, being considered a global hotspot by Conservation International. Impenetrable stands of bamboo cover huge areas, often along rivers, but are otherwise patchily distributed creating bamboo dominated forest in some areas. Growing in a very dense, monotypic stands, it gives a unique habitat for birds. Although bamboo is the dominant species, some small understorey shrubs occur and emergent trees may rise out of the bamboo. The bamboo undergoes cyclical die-offs where the bamboo flowers, sets seed and then dies off. During the 1980s, the late Ted Parker, who spent many years studying the avifauna in Tambopata area, discovered the occurrence of certain species of birds restricted to

bamboo forests in Explorers Inn area. Parker considered that these species were generally scarce, due to their habitat, but later, with improved knowledge of their calls, found the species to be more common in other areas of bamboo farther upriver.

Microrhopias Quixensis

In 1992, Parker with a group of researchers known as the RAP (Rapid Assessment Program) Team from Conservation International went to this area know as the Collpa de Guacamayos (the macaws clay lick) to do some surveys. A graduate student from Louisiana State University, Andrew Kratter, formed part of the team and he subsequently stayed on to study the bamboo birds as part of his doctoral research. Kratter mapped territories of understory and subcanopy birds to determine the species associated with bamboo thickets and he defined a bird as bamboo specialist by the frequency of occurrence in this habitat and its absence in all the other habitats at the study site. Kratter found a group of 19 species that met the criteria he used for his research. Six he classified as obligate bamboo users as they were entirely restricted to bamboo thickets, seven were consider near-obligate bamboo users because they seems to occur almost wholly within or near bamboo thickets but they were occasionally recorded in other habitats, and six were considered facultative bamboo users as they also used habitats other than bamboo regularly. In addition of these 19 birds that met his criteria to qualify as bamboo specialists, he also registered an additional 13 species closely associated with bamboo but which were, either too rare, or too infrequently recorded in his study areas to be considered bamboo specialists. Amongst these were seven that were frequently found in bamboo but also used tree fall gaps and river edges and six that were considered to apparently be bamboo specialists but were too rarely recorded. Obligate Bamboo Users

Celeus spectabilis

Cercomacra manu Drymophila devillei Hemitriccus flammulatus Poecilotriccus albifacies Ramphotrigon megacephala

Near-Obligate Bamboo Users

Simoxenops ucayalae Anabazenops dorsalis Automolus melanopezus Cymbilaimus sanctaemariae Percnostola lophotes Myrmeciza goeldii Ramphotrigon fuscicauda

Facultative Bamboo Users

Picumnus rufiventris Campylohramphus trochilirostris Synallaxis cabanisi Myrmotherula ornata Myrmotherula iheringi Microrhopias quixensis

Bamboo, Tree Fall and River Edge species

Crypturellus atrocapillus Automolus rufipileatus Cercomacra nigrescens Hypocnemis cantator Myiophobus fasciatus Lathrotriccus euleri Thryothorus genibarbis

Probable Rarely Recorded Bamboo Specialists

Dromococcyx pavoninus Bucco macrodactylus Monasa flavirostris Nonnula ruficapilla Automolus rubiginosus Sporophila schistacea

Within the Amazon, bamboo specialization tends to be a phenomena mainly found in the south-western region adjacent to the Andean foothills; although some of the species involved, particularly the species that are not obligate bamboo users have wider ranges and are found in other habitats elsewhere. Several of the bamboo specialists have sister taxa in southeastern Brazil, which are also bamboo specialists, suggesting that bamboo specialization evolved when both regions were connected by bamboo. The bamboo-dominated forest of Madre de Dios also supports several other animals that are restricted to the habitat including the Bamboo Rat (hard to see but easily heard at night), a poison-arrow frog and several species of butterfly and dragonfly. Bamboo specialist bird species are most readily found at any of a number of lodges on the Manu and Tambopata Rivers in Madre de Dios. Birding bamboo can be very rewarding for the visiting birder, but beware the very sharp thorns on the bamboo that can open flesh; a good trail is a great advantage. Many of the bamboo specialists are retiring and can be hard to see, knowledge of vocalizations or a local guide are key to getting to grips with some of these highly sought after specialties.

Hypocnemis cantator

Note: This article is courtesy of the comision de promocion del