Distribution and Abundance of Yellow cardinal (Gubernatrix cristata, Passeriformes: Thraupidae) in South Buenos Aires Province

Abstract

The Yellow Cardinal ( Gubernatrix cristata ) is an endangered species distrib- uted mainly in the South American Espinal. In Buenos Aires province it is mainly distributed in the departments of Bahía Blanca, Puan, Villarino and Patagones. The knowledge about its current distribution, population status and habitat use is currently scarce. This work makes an approximation to the knowledge of the current status of the populations of the species in the south of Buenos Aires, contributing new data on its distribution, abundance and on forest use. We performed 303 independent extensive, unlimited, radio sampling points with the use of playback over 13 transects, totaling 1,183 km between 2015 and 2017, during 11 sampling campaigns. The percentage of forest cover was estimated at each point within 100 m radius. We obtained 19 records of a total of 48 individuals: 24 males, 17 females, and 7 undeterminated individuals. The 78,9 % of records and the 83,3 % of individuals were observed in the southern area. Forest cover was similar between sites with and without Yellow Cardinal records. The low records at the North and Centre areas could be due to the illegal capture of individuals, as long as the species has been abundant in the past, but not sought, otherwise the species may have always been scarce in these areas.