A diagnosis of Atlantic Forest avifauna in the Paraguay Biodiversity Corridor

The Upper Parana Atlantic Forest (UPAF) is the most threatened ecoregion and with the richest avifauna in Paraguay. It has been reduced to less than 30% of its original coverage, with only 1.8% in protected areas. The Paraguay Biodiversity Corridor seeks to connect the remaining protected areas of UPAF, through conservation, restoration, and sustainable management, in an area of 1,220,000 hectares in six departments. With the objective of defining strategies and priorities, a biodiversity diagnosis is being carried out, seeking to identify areas with high conservation and restoration value, and determine their main challenges. From November 2015 to May 2017, 17 protected areas were visited, totaling 55 days of sampling. Birds were counted using 10-min point counts and 10-species McKinnon lists. Previous studies were reviewed, obtaining a total bird list for each area. Five hundred fifty-five bird species have been recorded in the Corridor, representing more than 80% of the birds and 78 endemic species of UPAF of the country. Fifty species (9% of the total) are of global conservation concern, of which 21 are UPAF’s endemics. The areas with highest species richness, endemism, and global conservation concern are San Rafael Reserve Area for National Park (426 species, 70 endemics, 30 global conservation species), Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve (409, 61, 31), Tapytá Nature Reserve (377, 65, 28), Ypetí Nature Reserve (351, 58, 14) and Itabó Biological Reserve (341, 66, 20).