Discovery of White-winged Potoo Nyctibius leucopterus in Espírito Santo, Brazil, with remarks on its distribution and conservation in the Atlantic Forest

Abstract

White-winged Potoo Nyctibhis leucopterus is known from very few localities in the Atlantic Forest, but is supposed to occur throughout suitable habitats in Amazonia. Known solely from specimens until the late 1980s, there are still very few data on its natural history and distribution. Here we report a striking new record of N. leucopterus in the Atlantic Forest, at Sooretama Biological Reserve, Espírito Santo, the fourth locality in this biome, the first for south-east Brazil and the southernmost ever. Sooretama, together with the adjacent Linhares Natural Reserve, is the largest fragment of lowland Atlantic Forest. Knowledge of its vocal repertoire and habitat preferences evidently enhance our ability to locate the species, and nutrient-poor, sandier soils are apparently critical to its occurrence in the Atlantic Forest. Should the Amazonian population be described as a separate taxon, as has been suggested in the literature, the Atlantic Forest form will be restricted to fragments in Bahia and Espírito Santo, and thus highly threatened. © British Ornithologists' Club 2010.