Harpy Eagle sightings, traces and nesting records at the "Reserva Natural Vale", a Brazilian Atlantic Forest remnant in Espírito Santo, Brazil

Abstract

We present 25 records of sightings, feathers and nests of the Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja in the last 27 years and also the first detailed description of a nest of a Harpy Eagle in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, found at the "Reserva Natural Vale" (RNV), Linhares, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Most Harpy Eagle records were obtained along the RNV roads by researchers and the RNV staff. Two nests have been mapped at the RNV until now. An especially relevant record occurred in 1997 when a juvenile Harpy Eagle was found dead, 4 km distant from the nest mapped and measured in 2010. The nest was 1.8 m × 1.6 m in diameter, and was built 28 m above ground, on the main fork of an Astronium concinnum tree measuring 37 m height and 1 m in diameter at breast height (DBH). This nest was the second of the species to be reported at RNV, being 5 km away from the first one, found in 1992, and built 30 m above the ground on the main fork of a Cariniana legalis tree 36 m high and 1.1 m in DBH. All Harpy Eagle records at RNV indicate that this protected area offers enough resources and has carrying capacity to maintain at least two Harpy Eagle pairs. However, because of the fragmentation around RNV, the local Harpy Eagle population cannot expand due to reduced habitat availability. The data gathered in this study confirm the importance of the RNV for the conservation of the critically endangered Harpy Eagle population of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We recommend the establishment of a reforestation program to increase the size and the connections of fragments around the RNV. We suggest that the creation and effective implementation of protected areas may contribute to Harpy Eagle protection in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, but the long-term conservation of remaining populations is an essential step to allow for the occupation and re-colonization of other areas.