Salgado Paraense : an inventory of a forgotten coastal Amazonian avifauna

We report on the poorly-known, coastal avifauna of the Salgado Paraense (in the state of Pará, Brazil) east of the delta of the Amazonas river, combining data from recent surveys with an analysis of historical records. Three-hundred and twenty three species were recorded in the habitats inventoried: estuarine, beach and mangrove habitats, restinga, seasonallyflooded grasslands and secondary forest. Particularly noteworthy records included: the discovery of a disjunct population of Laterallus jamaicensis; a previously unrecorded staging ground for Stercorarius spp.; the second documented Brazilian record of Calidris pugnax; the first documented records in Pará for a number of marine species, including the regionallythreatened Sterna dougallii, and the rediscovery of ‘Picumnus pallidus’, a taxon of uncertain validity, all documented by archived digital vouchers. Coastal habitats represent an important contribution to local avian species-richness in Amazonia and they are theoretically better-protected by existing conservation units than neighboring terra firme habitats, yet this region’s biodiversity remains threatened by habitat loss, hunting, and major infrastructure improvements.


INTRODUCTION
Amazonia remains one of the great frontiers in biodiversity research and major gaps in our knowledge remain to be filled, including even a basic understanding of the distribution patterns of many species (e.g.Peres et al., 2010).Most such gaps of biodiversity knowledge in the Amazon basin are centered on remote interfluvial regions (e.g.Aleixo, 2009), yet despite an increase in fieldwork in the interior, the avifauna of the coastal regions has been relatively neglected by comparison.One such understudied area is the 'Salgado Paraense' alternatively known as the 'Reentrâncias Paraenses', which lie east of the delta of the Amazonas river in the Brazilian state of Pará.This heavily indented and geomorphologically dynamic coastline is characterized by mangrove peninsulas crossed by tidal channels, with smaller areas of flooded saline campos and coastal restinga forests.The region has been poorly-inventoried recently, although fieldwork in the region spans 179 years.J. Natterer was the first ornithologist to investigate the area; he made a significant collection of birds on the Ilha Cajutuba (0º 36' S, 47º 42' W, henceforth Cajutuba) between 20 February and 30 April 1835 (Pelzeln, 1871).Workers at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi (MPEG), notably E. Snethlage and F. Lima at the start of the 20 th century, subsequently made regular collecting trips to this area, yet the only publications treating this area specifically, reported on the avifauna of the Campos de Bragança (63 species collected 1968-1970;Novaes & Pimentel, 1973) and of Vista Alegre in the municipality of Marapanim (35 species; Novaes, 1981).Kober & Bairlein (2006a, 2006b) later studied shorebird foraging ecology and their prey base around Ilha de Canelas, Bragança (0º 47' S, 46º 43' W).Most recently, waterbird counts from key sites using rapid, boat-based assessments of various coastal areas in Pará and Maranhão (Rodrigues, 2007) complemented previous aerial surveys in this region (Morrison & Ross, 1989).Based largely on these latter studies, the area was designated as an Important Bird Area (MA/PA01 -the Reentrâncias Maranhenses/Paraenses, De Luca et al., 2009) given its importance to transient and wintering shorebirds, and for its population of breeding Eudocimus ruber.Much of the area is also considered an Área de Proteção Ambiental (APA) and several sites are designated as extractive reserves, although this means relatively little in practical terms.We report on a series of rapid avifaunal assessments conducted between 2011 and 2013 across a 150 km-wide coastal belt of the Brazilian state of Pará between the municipalities of São Caetano de Odivelas and Augusto Corrêa.We also review historical records to provide background for our reports in this understudied region.

STUDy LANDSCAPE: BIOPHySICAL CONDITIONS AND CLIMATE
The region studied is located in northeastern Pará (Figure 1), east of the delta of the rio Amazonas.Our surveys concentrated on coastal habitats that had been poorlyinventoried historically, at least relative to adjacent terra firme forests.The coastal plain is extremely heterogeneous; for example Souza Filho & Paradella (2002) identified 19 distinct geobotanical units on the Bragança Peninsula.We designed our survey to maximize the coverage of these habitats, and in particular, marine and estuarine environments (tidal estuaries, sandy beaches and spits, and the open ocean), mangrove forests, and salt-marshes (Figure 2).The mangrove forests are locally dominated by three species: Rhizophora mangle (Rhizophoraceae), Avicennia germinans (Acanthaceae), and Laguncularia racemosa (Combretaceae), with the former species being the most abundant (Matni et al., 2006).
Small areas of 'inner salt marsh' (sensu Souza Filho & Paradella, 2002) and flooded campos are nested within areas of mangrove forests in the inner part of the Bragança Peninsula, several kilometers from the immediate coast and are known locally as the 'Campos de Bragança', 'Campos de Tracuateua' and 'Campos de Quatipuru' which are orientated east-west (Cohen & Lara, 2003).These open, hypersaline flats are flooded less frequently than the surrounding mangrove forests (< 28 days/year), and the 'outer salt marshes' (Cohen & Lara, 2003).The dry season (June-November) vegetation at these sites is dominated by Poaceae (Sporobolus virginicus), but in the wet season the vegetation is dominated by Cyperaceae (Eleocharis geniculata and Fimbristylis spadicea; Cohen & Lara, 2003).The dominant flora includes species in the genera Sagittaria, Pontederia, Eichornia, Benjaminia, Azolla, and Pistia (Novaes & Pimentel, 1973).
We also briefly visited restinga habitats, vegetative communities that occur on the sandy, coastal plain that includes herbaceous plant communities in addition to assemblages dominated by shrubs or trees.For a review of the floristic composition see Silva et al. (2010).The climate is hot and humid (Köppen type Am2) with well-defined wet (December-May) and dry (June-November) seasons, and an annual precipitation averaging 3,000 mm with a relative humidity of 80-91% (Martorano et al., 1993).
To provide a historical context for our recent observations, we compiled a list of specimens collected by previous workers.We used the digital database ORNIS (undated) to search American institutions, in which we found records from the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh (CM), the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago (FMNH), the Louisiana State University Museum of Zoology (LSUMZ), the United States National Museum, Washington, D.C. (USNM), and the Peabody Museum at Yale University, New Haven (YPM).We also checked specimens held at MPEG and solicited specimen data from the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien in Vienna, Austria (NMW), and the Museum für Naturkunde der Humboldt-Universität in Berlin, Germany (ZMB).We also list additional specimens exchanged by MPEG to other institutions, namely the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), Museum für Naturkunde/Berlin (ZMB), Museu Nacional, Universidade Federal do Rio Janeiro (MNRJ) and the Naturhistorisches Museum Bern (NMBE).Collecting localities were located using Paynter Jr. & Traylor Jr. (1991).Our taxonomy follows the checklist of Brazilian birds compiled by the Comitê Brasileiro de Registros Ornitológicos (CBRO, 2014) and age coding of temperatetropical migrant birds follows Pyle (1997): hatching or first calendar year (HY), second calendar year (SY), third calendar year (TY) and at least third calendar year (ASY).

SPECIES RICHNESS AND COMPOSITION
We recorded 247 bird species in all habitats surveyed, for which we provide digital vouchers for 232 species (Appendix).A search of historical collections revealed 238 species from the region held in 13 ornithological collections (Appendix).By combining historical records with those obtained from our fieldwork and the records of other species supported by digital vouchers the final regional list totals 323 species.In addition we have multiple undocumented sight records of three species: Ictinia plumbea, Geranoaetus albicaudatus and Aramides cajaneus all of which are biogeographically expected in the region (and represented by specimens from neighboring municipalities) and list two other species from the region from previous studies that are not represented by documentary material -Bartramia longicauda (Novaes & Pimentel, 1973) and Limosa fedoa (Kober et al., 2006).The total also includes two introduced commensal species: Columba livia and Passer domesticus.
The landbird community in the mangrove forests away from ecotones is depauperate with species such as Dendroplex picus, Todirostrum maculatum, Myiarchus tyrannulus, Conirostrum bicolor and Tangara palmarum most frequently encountered.Small savannah enclaves also showed low species-richness and were dominated by many of the same non-forest species that were found in the herbaceous flats (e.g., Sturnella militaris) but also some species typical of Amazonian savannah enclaves such as Elaenia cristata, Hemitriccus margaritaceiventer, Ammodramus humeralis and Schistochlamys melanopis.Both A. humeralis and S. melanopis also colonize cattle pastures and young secondary forests in eastern Amazonia (Lees et al., 2012).We did not find H. margaritaceiventer during our field surveys, the species is represented by a single record of one collected at Votorantim, municipality of Primavera, on 7 October 2010 (J.Pinho, MPEG #72435).The closest location for this species in Pará lies 600 km SW, on the Serra dos Carajás (Pacheco et al., 2007), but F. Olmos (personal communication) found this species to be common in restinga around Alcântara, Maranhão state, 300 km SE of Votorantim, so we presume that the latter location must lie at the northern range limit of this species.Our surveys for marine and coastal species were likely near-asymptotic.Particularly well-represented in regional terms were totals of six species of waterfowl, 26 species of shorebirds, and 15 species of jaegers, gulls, and terns.

Anas discors
Blue-winged Teal.A record of a flock of 11 individuals on the flooded campos between Ajuruteua and Bragança on 23 February 2013 (ACL, NGM, IT) was followed by an observation of 97 birds present at the same location on 17-18 March 2013 (Figure 3, WA #912777).The initial flock foraged on their own whilst the March birds were loosely associated with Anas bahamensis and Dendrocygna viduata.The count of 97 is the largest ever recorded in Brazil and together these reports apparently represent the first field observations of this species from the state of Pará, where all ten previous reports were provided by band recoveries (Mestre et al., 2010).

Fregata magnificens
Magnificent Frigatebird.A single immature of this species was photographed foraging approximately 2 km offshore from Praia do Crispim on 2 February 2013 (ACL, P. Cormons, and H. Hays; WA #879478) providing the first recent, documented record for the state of Pará.Subsequently, an immature was seen foraging along the coast at Ajuruteua on 18 March 2013 and three individuals were observed from land, foraging distantly offshore at Praia do Crispim on 25 May 2013 (ACL, NGM, IT; Figure 4, WA #895441).Natterer collected one individual (NMW #39.856) at Cajutuba in 1835 (Pelzeln, 1871) and Murphy (1936)

Botaurus pinnatus
Pinnated Bittern.A single adult hunting in sedge beds on the Campos de Bragança on 4 May 2013 (ACL, NGM; WA #952467) was followed by a second sighting the following day in sedge beds on the road between Bragança and Ajuruteua (ACL).Subsequently an adult was photographed on the Campos de Tracuateua on 5 October 2013 (ACL, NGM, Figure 5, WA #1111949).The only previous records from Pará state were provided by a single individual collected at Tauari on the Rio Tapajós by A. M. Olalla (MCZ #173069) and sight records (Henriques & Oren, 1997)

Laterallus jamaicensis
Black Rail.Prior to 2012 the only documented record of this species from Brazil was a single individual collected on 3 October 1994 on the research campus of the MPEG in Belém, Pará (R. Neto, MPEG #51002; Novaes & Lima, 1994).Eighteen years later the species was discovered in flooded rice fields south of Arari, Maranhão, on 26 October 2012 (O. A. Fenalti and T. Rodrigues), when several calling birds were encountered and photographed (e.g., WA #789456).Using tape playback of this species from the eastern United States, ACL, NGM, and IT located a minimum of six L. jamaicensis territories on 23-24 February 2013 in patches of Paspalum pleostachyum on the hypersaline, herbaceous flats between Bragança and Ajuruteua (0º 54' S, 46º 41' W).These birds, which provided the first Brazilian records from 'natural' wetland habitats, were photographed (Figure 6, WA #894871) and sound-recorded (XC #133709).They were still present at this site on 4 May 2013.These discoveries in Pará and Maranhão suggest that this Near threatened species (IUCN, 2013) may be patchily distributed in natural and artificial wetland areas in northeastern Brazil, which have not been adequately sampled.Searches should be conducted on Marajó Island and in coastal Amapá; there is an unpublished sight record from the latter state of one flushed from a grassy wetland besides the BR-156 over the rio Matapi on 24 June 2011 (K.Okada, F. Olmos and S. Rumsey, personal communication).The nearest confirmed records of this species come from coastal Peru to the west and the Greater Antilles to the north e.g.Taylor (1996).The taxonomic status of this disjunct Brazilian population is under investigation by ACL, G. Gonsioroski, P. Cerqueira, and E. Portes.

Aramides mangle
Little Wood-rail.Four individuals were observed foraging in mangroves from the raised boardwalk adjacent to the Praia do Maçarico in Salinópolis on 16 October 2011 (ACL, NGM; Figure 7, WA #471478) and one was photographed at the same site on 6 July 2013 (IT; WA #1008889).The only previous report from Pará was provided by a series of specimens collected at Vista Alegre on 6-24 October 1981 (MPEG #33924-33929, #33383-33384;Novaes, 1981).This was also the northernmost locality known for the species until a bird was photographed on 10 July 2010 along the rio Kourou near Kourou (5º 9' N, 52º 39' W), French Guiana (Ingels et al., 2011), although it is at present unclear if this discovery is representative of a vagrant or a disjunct breeding population.

Tringa flavipes
Lesser Yellowlegs.A wintering concentration of Tringa flavipes was discovered foraging in association with small numbers of Tringa melanoleuca, Calidris himantopus, and Himantopus mexicanus in flooded salt-marsh on the road between Bragança and Ajuruteua.A total of forty individuals were counted at this site on 27 January 2013, when most of the flat was exposed mud, increased to 2,000 individuals on 23 February 2013, by which time the campo had become totally flooded and the birds spent virtually their entire time swimming, and the total peaked at 3,500 on 17-18 March 2013 (Figure 8, WA #912924), before dropping to ten birds on 4 May 2013.One hundred and fifty individuals were counted on the Campos de Tracuateua on 7 September 2013 with 30 between Bragança and Ajuruteua the same day; with 30 on the Campos de Tracuateua on 5 October 2013 and finally 20 between Bragança and Ajuruteua on 6 October 2013.Away from the Bragança area, four were photographed at Salinópolis on 31 January 2013.This species was not recorded during the surveys conducted by Rodrigues (2007), who may not have visited these non-tidal habitats.Nevertheless, there are several historic records from Bragança, with six birds collected in January 1961 (J. Hidasi;MPEG #18758-198760, #18787-18789), one collected on 7 March 1963 (P.Humphrey; USNM #512924), and flocks of 10-15 individuals observed in February 1968and March 1970(Novaes & Pimentel, 1973), and this species was also collected in 1835 at Cajutuba by J. Natterer (Pelzeln, 1871).The population of this species is declining globally (Andres et al., 2012) and the campos of northern Pará may represent an important wintering/staging area.Peak numbers of this species also occur in coastal Surinam between January and March (Spaans, 1978a) where the species is regular in both tidal and non-tidal habitats.

Calidris himantopus
Stilt Sandpiper.We counted 50 individuals foraging with a large flock of Tringa flavipes on flooded campos between Bragança and Ajuruteua on 23 February 2013, and 60 birds at the same spot on 17-18 March 2013 (ACL, NGM, IT; WA #912757).A single individual was photographed on the Campos de Tracuateua on 3 May 2013 (ACL, NGM; Figure 9, WA #953447) and 20 individuals were counted at the same site on 7 September 2013 (ACL, NGM, IT) with 15 between Bragança and Ajuruteua on the same day (ACL, NGM, IT).To our knowledge, these observations are the first documented records from the coast of Pará, and the first report of a wintering concentration of this species in northern Brazil.The only other documented records from the state involve one collected along the rio Tapajós at Tauari on 17 February 1963(Stotz et al., 1992) and an adult female collected at Serra Norte, Serra do Carajás, on 19 September 1983 (MPEG #35229).Spaans (1978a) reported a strong southbound passage of this species along the Surinam coast, peaking in August but relatively few records in January-May suggesting few winter in this region.Spaans (1978a) also noted the species to be 'confined to shallow lagoons and brackish herbaceous swamps', with 'no observations of this species from the tidal flats' which mirrored our experience with this species, which along with Calidris melanotos and C. fuscicollis only occurred in brackish or freshwater wetland habitats.

Calidris pugnax
Ruff.A single HY individual was photographed and video-recorded on the Campos de Tracuateua on 5 and 7 October 2013 (ACL, NGM; Figure 10, WA #1111996).It was observed foraging alongside Tringa flavipes, T. melanoleuca, T. solitaria, Calidris fuscicollis, C. melanotos and Vanellus chilensis and was approximately the same size as accompanying T. melanoleuca suggesting it was most likely a male.This represents the second documented record of C. pugnax for Brazil after two individuals were photographed at Lagoa da Pampulha, Minas Gerais between 24 February and 10 March 2013 (Dias et al., 2013).There are in addition two published (but undocumented) Brazilian records of single individuals on 30 October 1985 at the Estação Ecológica do Taim in Rio Grande do Sul (Pacheco, 2000) and at Capão Seco, Rio Grande do Sul on 29 June 1998 (Maurício & Dias, 2000).

Stercorarius pomarinus
Pomarine Jaeger.Our first confirmed records of this species were made 3-4 May 2013, when two adults (with diagnostic tail 'spoons') and at least two immature individuals were seen harassing terns and gulls at Ajuruteua (ACL, NGM; Figure 11, WA #952489).These records are the first from the coast of Pará, where the only other record from the state, and the first for Brazil, was provided by a light-morph immature collected on 7 May 1960 in the Amazonian interior at Urucurituba 160 km south of Santarém (ca.3º 30' S, 55º 30' W) (A.Pimentel; Museum of Zoology of the University of São Paulo [MZUSP] #61777, Escalante, 1972).

Stercorarius parasiticus
Parasitic Jaeger.Considering that S. parasiticus were practically unrecorded from northeastern Brazil, we were surprised to discover a previously unreported wintering concentration along the Pará coast.At least ten individuals were seen at Salinópolis on 30-31 January 2013 and five others were seen at Praia do Crispim on 2 February 2013 (ACL).Fifteen birds were subsequently seen at Ajuruteua on 23 February 2013, when one individual was photographed as it alternated between loafing on the beach and chasing terns and Leucophaeus atricilla (ACL, NGM, IT; Figure 12, WA #895416).A minimum of 20 jaegers, possibly representing more than one species, were present on 17-18 March 2013, and a minimum of 30 birds were present on 3-4 May 2013, including one group of 16 S. parasiticus observed together.The only previous record of this species from Pará involved a HY male collected along the Tocantins river at the Tucuruí Dam on 12 December 1984 (Figure 13; E. Dente; MPEG #36558).Re-examination of this specimen by ACL, combined with evaluation of images circulated to Northern Hemisphere experts, revealed that the specimen was instead a HY S. pomarinus based on the blunt rectrices with no tail protrusions, an evenly-barred rump and vent, and a short, stout bill (with a depth at the gonys of 10.7 mm) that was uncharacteristic of S. parasiticus.The maximum bill depth reported for juvenile S. longicaudus Vieillot, 1819 is 9.5 mm (Olsen & Larsson, 1997), compared to a mean of 11.1 mm and range of 10.3-12.5 mm for S. pomarinus.Although Rodrigues (2007) reported two unidentified jaegers at Otelina Island on an unspecified date, our records from the Salgado Paraense represent the first for S. parasiticus in Pará.The occurrence of a concentration of jaegers of any species has not been reported for northeastern Brazil until now, but both S. pomarinus and S. parasiticus are regular off Venezuela in April-June (Casler & Pirela, 2005) with many immature individuals over-summering.It is possible that some jaegers may over-summer in coastal Pará, but none were observed at Praia do Crispim on 25-26 May 2013, nor any at Ajuruteua in September-October 2013.The jaegers are probably tracking the movements of terns which are, in turn, following migratory movements of sardines (Sardinella sp.) and other baitfish, which local fisherman indicated are abundant locally between March and June.

Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus
Gray-hooded Gull.ACL photographed single, basicplumaged adults at Salinópolis on 30 January 2013, Praia do Crispim on 2 February 2013 (WA #879620), and ACL and NGM observed a single, alternate-plumaged adult with a flock of 3,000 Leucophaeus atricilla at Ajuruteua on 3 May 2013.These records, along with a single basic-plumaged adult photographed at the fishing port at Vigia (0º 51' S, 48º 8' W) on 3 February 2013 (ACL; WA #879469), represent the first from the state of Pará.However, the species is to be expected as an occasional visitor given that apparently resident populations occur in the neighboring states to the east (Oren & Roma, 2011).

Larus dominicanus
Kelp Gull.A single ATY individual was photographed in primary molt at Salinópolis on 7 July 2013 (IT; Figure 14, WA #1010043).The only other record for Pará concerns an adult photographed inland at Santarém on 2 June 2013 (L.P. Cruz; WA #995713).This species is a vagrant in Brazil north of Bahia, with the northernmost previous record in Brazil coming from Fernando de Noronha (Silva & Olmos, 2006).The combination of a heavy body, deep and robust bill, broad wings rule out the similar L. fuscus Linnaeus, 1758.The western race graellsii of L. fuscus can also be excluded out by the absence of contrast between the uniformly dark mantle and primaries, it is this subspecies that is expected as a vagrant, having already been reported from as close as São Luís, Maranhão to the south (Almeida et al., 2013) and French Guiana to the north (Devillers, 1979).Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758 can be discounted by this individual's yellow-green (rather than pink legs) and a lack of a strong gonydeal angle, L. marinus has recently been documented as a vagrant to South America for the first time in Trinidad (Kenefick, 2010).

Sternula antillarum
Least Tern.On 18 February 2013 two basic-plumaged, adult S. antillarum were observed with a flock of 35 S. superciliaris at Ajuruteua (ACL, NGM) and on 4 May 2013 45 S. antillarum (mostly alternate-plumaged adults, but also with some dark-billed, presumed immature individuals) were observed loosely-associating with a flock of 70 S. superciliaris and 300 Sterna hirundo at Ajuruteua (ACL, NGM; Figure 15, WA #952502).On 24 May 2013, a flock of about 20 S. antillarum (ASY birds with black-tipped yellow bills and SY individuals with all dark bills) were observed at Praia do Crispim as they flew east down the coast without interacting with S. superciliaris that were foraging at the creek mouth (ACL, NGM, IT).The following morning a further ten individuals flew east at this site (ACL, NGM, IT; WA #971182).Two adults were photographed at Salinópolis on 7 July 2013 (IT; WA #1008886) and 115 individuals were counted at a high tide roost at Ajuruteua on 6 October 2013 (ACL, NGM; e.g.WA #1111981).A disjunct colony of 60-70 pairs of this species, the first known for Brazil was recently documented north of São Luís at Ilha de Curupu, Maranhão (2º 24' S, 44º 5' W; Rodrigues et al., 2010).Rodrigues et al. (2010) suspected that the colony had existed at this site for at least ten years and noted that birds were sitting on eggs from mid-late May, indicating a reproductive cycle that is comparable with Northern Hemisphere populations.These authors, however, did not mention two specimens (FMNH #64083-64084) collected at São Luís on 31 July 1923 that suggest the colony may have been occupied for a much longer period.The nearest breeding records to the north are on islands in the southern Caribbean off Venezuela (Phelps & Phelps Jr., 1958) although the species is also regular off Suriname all year round, perhaps also suggesting local breeding (Spaans, 1978b).It is unclear whether our observations reflect local breeding or boreal migrants given historic recoveries of banded, North American birds from Pará (Mestre et al., 2010), but it seems unlikely that adults of Northern Hemisphere populations would be present in May-June (Carlos & Fedrizzi, 2013).Rodrigues et al. (2010) did not provide any information on the biometrics and plumage variation of the Maranhão breeding population, which should be the subject of future taxonomic study to evaluate its uniqueness.Searches should also be conducted between May and July for other colonies along the coasts of Maranhão, Ceará and Pará.16, WA #971164) and five individuals (two adults and three SYs) were again seen at the same site the following day.Two more adults were seen with 1,500 S. hirundo nearby at Marudá on this same day.

Sterna paradisaea
Arctic Tern.Our only record involved a single individual photographed alone on Praia da Corvina, Salinópolis, on 13 October 2011 (ACL, NGM; Figure 17, WA #622469-622470).There are less than 30 records of this species from all of Brazil, and this record represented the first for Pará and only the third from northeastern Brazil, where singles were previously photographed in Ceará at Porto do Pecém on 8 October 2006 (C.Albano; Girão et al., 2008) and at Praia da Emboaca (3º 32' S, 38º 48' W) on 23 October 2009 (T.Pinto; WA #606237).The clustering of these three records into a 15-day window in mid-October corresponds well with the results of geolocator tracking of S. paradisaea (see Egevang et al., 2010).The average departure date for S. paradisaea in this study from stopover sites in the Central-Western North Atlantic (over the eastern portion of the Newfoundland Basin and the western slope of the mid-North Atlantic Ridge) was 15 September and the mean arrival in their Southern Ocean and Weddell Sea wintering grounds was 24 November.Nevertheless, these birds were tracked passing well offshore to the north of the region here discussed and beyond the Continental shelf, which in this region extends approximately 210 km offshore.Presumably only birds in poor condition and/or those displaced by storms make landfall on the Brazilian coast.

Amazilia leucogaster
Plain-bellied Emerald.We recorded this species with certainty on two occasions: on 18 March 2013, a single Amazilia leucogaster was observed foraging in the sand dunes on the landward side of the community of Ajurutuea (ACL, NGM) and on 25 May 2013 a single individual was photographed in an open savannah behind the community of Praia do Crispim (ACL, NGM, IT; Figure 19, WA #971179).The only other record for the Pará coast that we have been able to locate concerns a single adult photographed at Salinópolis on 12 October 2010 (Marco Rocha; WA #244856).

Picumnus cf. pallidus
We photographed males of rufous-toned, spot-breasted Picumnus on our first visit to mangrove forests at Salinópolis in May 2011 (WA #400194) and initially assigned these individuals to a previously undiscovered population of Picumnus pygmaeus (Lichtenstein, 1823), a species that we had recently recorded for the first time in Pará around Paragominas (Lees et al., 2012).We also encountered Picumnus with barred breasts occurring sympatrically in mangroves at Salinópolis and initially considered that these might pertain to P. cirratus macconnelli Sharpe, 1901 or to hybrids between P. pygmaeus and P. cirratus or P. pygmaeus and Picumnus albosquamatus D'Orbigny, 1840.But later fieldwork both at Salinópolis and around Bragança revealed that these birds did not conform to any readily identifiable taxon and that both male and female plumages were quite variable.Males were observed with both scaled and spotted breasts (e.g. Figure 20) and females typically showed barred (or in some cases scaled) breasts and unbarred lower bellies (e.g.WA #476407).Novaes (1981) listed three specimens (MPEG #33386-33388) of P. cirratus macconnelli from Vista Alegre that apparently represent the only documented records of this taxon from the coast of Pará away from the neighboring (but subtly biogeographically distinct) Marajó Island.Silva et al. (1997) examined the Vista Alegre specimens and observed that they did not resemble P. c. macconnelli, but instead, that they might pertain to P. c. confusus, which was described from Guyana (Kinnear, 1927), or alternatively that they pertain to an undescribed taxon.A subsequent literature review revealed that the population of Picumnus occurring in mangroves along the Pará coast has a valid name.Snethlage (1924) collected a series of four individuals from the Campos de Quatipuru in 1916 that she named Picumnus pallidus.This treatment was followed by Pinto (1938), but not by Griscom & Greenway Jr. (1941), who ranked this taxon as Picumnus guttifer pallidus; guttifer is now treated as a subspecies of Picumnus albosquamatus.Pinto (1978) subsequently treated this taxon as a subspecies of Picumnus minutissimus Pallas, 1782 and the most up-to-date treatment (Winkler & Christie, 2002) included pallidus as a subspecies of Picumnus spilogaster Sundevall, 1866.ACL found the Vista Alegre skins to appear to be a good phenotypic match for pallidus.We were provided with digital photographs of two of the original four type specimens whose phenotype corresponds to that of individuals we have photographed in the same region (ZMB #31.1524 and#31.1525).That at one time or another the populations of Picumnus occurring in coastal Pará have been assigned to any one of five different currently-recognized species, or potentially even a new species, highlights the taxonomic conundrum that this population represents, and given the degree of variation evident, we suppose that hybridization may be a factor.Based on phenotypic characteristics we do not consider 'pallidus' to be correctly placed as a subspecies of Picumnus spilogaster, as it has in recent treatments.

Mimus gilvus
Tropical Mockingbird.We recorded this species at both Bragança and Maracanã.A pair was observed attending a nest in an isolated bush in a narrow belt (ca.50 m wide) of dune slacks between the beach and the village at Praia do Crispin on 2 February 2013 (ACL; WA #879482), with a pair present at the same locality on 25 May 2013 and another pair located 2 km inland in less degraded restinga on the same date.

CONCLUSIONS
Coastal habitats contribute greatly to regional diversity in Amazonia and they provide important breeding, wintering, and staging habitat for species that do not occur anywhere else in the basin.Our survey produced many records of birds previously unknown from the region and we anticipate many future discoveries of both vagrants and potentially also populations of wetland species with cryptic habitats such as Ixobrychus exilis (Gmelin, 1789) and Pseudocolopteryx sclateri (Oustalet, 1892).
Although the immediate coastline and its mangrove forests are far better preserved than the interior terra firme forests of eastern Pará (e.g.Almeida & Vieira, 2010); a review of historical data reveals that the baseline avifaunal community has still shifted.For example, Natterer collected two Phoenicopterus ruber from a flock of 18 individuals on 3 March 1835 at Praia de Cajutuba (NMW #47.631, #47.637;Pelzeln, 1871).There have been no subsequent reports of this species from the region, and this species may now be extinct as a breeding species in Brazil as a result of human persecution (Sick, 2001).Similarly, Natterer also collected the type specimen of Crax fasciolata pinima in the same area on 24 February 1835 (Pelzeln, 1871), yet there have been no confirmed records of this taxon, endemic to the Belém area of endemism, anywhere in its range since 1978 (Lees et al., 2012).
The region remains threatened by unregulated and disorderly development, particularly by the tourism sector  (Martins & Filho, 2013), pollution associated with urbanization (Guimarães et al., 2009), and direct (hunting and exploitation) and indirect disturbance (from people and dogs) of waterbird populations.This is particularly likely to be the case for ground-nesting species such as Haematopus palliatus which we found to be surprisingly rare; most beaches we were able to visit were over-run by domestic dogs from neighboring communities, which no doubt take a heavy toll on eggs and nestlings.Potentially the greatest threat to regional biodiversity are plans to construct an offshore 'super port', the 'Terminal Marítimo Offshore do Espadarte' within the Reserva Extrativista Mãe Grande de Curuçá on Ilha dos Guarás in the municipality of Curuçá (CDP, 2013).This project could potentially lead to major environmental problems and catalyze development in this still relatively unspoiled region.There is an urgent need for quantitative monitoring of waterbird populations (both of globally declining migrant shorebirds and colonies of resident herons and ibis which are reportedly exploited for food) in addition to targeted surveys for rare species such as Laterallus jamaicensis.Quantitative surveys examining the conservation efficacy of existing extractive reserves versus unprotected areas are also crucial to determine if current protected areas will be effective in conserving the region's unique biota.ORDER (-iformes), SUBORDER (-i), PARVORDER (-ida), SUPERFAMILY (-oidea), FAMILY (-idae) and SUBFAMILY (-inae).Scientific names in square parentheses are those currently on the secondary list of Brazilian birds which lack supporting documentation.We present qualitative estimates of abundance for each species observed during our fieldwork in suitable habitat, abundance codes and habitat categorizations are adapted from Lees et al. (2013).The categories are as follows: C = 'common' (five or more individuals expected daily in appropriate habitat and at appropriate season for migrants), FC = 'fairly common' (less than five birds expected in appropriate habitat on most days or encountered irregularly in larger numbers), U = 'uncommon' (encountered in small numbers on a less than daily basis), R = 'rare' (encountered only a few times per season or resident locally in very small numbers), and VR = 'very rare' (recorded on fewer than two occasions).Habitat categories are coded as follows: CO = coast and estuaries (including open ocean, mudflats and beaches); MA = mangrove; CA = campos, including both freshwater and brackish areas and associated islands of scrub; NF = non-forest, open-country habitats, such as cattle pastures; PF = palm forest (refers to patches of swampy forest composed mostly of Mauritia flexuosa); RI = riverine/river edge within otherwise terra firme habitats; SF = secondary forest and scrub; SA = savannah and restinga habitats.Where more than one habitat is listed, we order them in decreasing order of preference in the region.Most species only occur seasonally in the region, these are denoted as AM = austral migrants (if followed by * some individuals also resident), BM = boreal migrants (species occurring mostly on passage -August-November and March-May and not staying to spend the whole boreal winter are marked with a * (some individuals may also spend the boreal summer -May-August in the region); OW = vagrant from the Palearctic; or UM = unspecified, intratropical migrants (if followed by * some individuals may also be resident) and R = resident.Numbers in parentheses listed after museum acronyms indicate the number of specimens held in each collection.Photo reference and sound reference numbers are searchable in the online databases of WikiAves (WA) and Xeno-canto (XC).Initials given in parentheses are non-author contributions, as follows: SA = S. Almeida, RB = R. Becker, SD = S. M. Dantas, FF = F. Furtado, AM = A. Mesquita, TS = T. Schnaider and CT = C. Timm.For those species without digital vouchers, the name of the observer is listed or the study from which the species was reported: 'Kober' = Kober et al. (2006), 'Novaes' = Novaes & Pimentel (1973), 'Pelzeln' = (Pelzeln, 1871), and 'Rodrigues' = Rodrigues (2007). ( Mangrove Cuckoo.We recorded this species in the same area of mangroves behind Praia da Corvina, Salinópolis, on both 6 May 2011 (ACL, NGM; WA #351961, XC #88795) and on 16 October 2011 (Figure 18, WA #471461).A third bird was seen in mangroves close to the town of Marudá on 26 May 2013 (NGM).Additional records from the Pará coast involve one photographed in mangroves between Ajuruteua and Bragança on 11 January 2011 (R. Cassou; WA #297341), one collected at Vista Alegre on 13 October 1981 (MPEG #34042), and two collected at Cajutuba in 1835 by J. Natterer (Pelzeln, 1871).
Another pair was photographed at the ecotone of restinga and mangrove just inland of Vila dos Pescadores at Ajuruteua on 18 March 2013 (ACL, NGM; WA #913050).Aside from a pair collected at Cajutuba in March 1835 by J. Natterer (NMW #35.851, #35.852;Pelzeln, 1871), the only previously documented records we can locate for the Pará coastline concern a pair photographed on 10 July 2010 in the municipality of Marapanim (C.Timm; WA #164716) and another pair photographed on 26 May 2012 in degraded restinga behind Praia do Atalaia, Salinópolis (IT; WA #658249).
Figure 1.Map of the study region, principle localities mentioned in the text are depicted as stars.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. General aspects of vegetation types on the Pará coast: A) mangrove forest at Cuiarana, SE of Salinópolis in May 2011; B) the Campos de Bragança in flood in May 2013; C) flooded campos between Bragança and Ajuruteua in March 2013; D) dry and extensively burnt campos between Bragança and Ajuruteua in February 2013; E) savannah vegetation behind the Praia do Crispim in May 2013; F) foreshore (and high tide shorebird roost) at Ajuruteua in October 2013.Photos: A. C. Lees.

Figure 15 .
Figure 15.Eight Sternula antillarum with three Sternula superciliaris, Ajuruteua, 4 May 2013.S. superciliaris are the fourth and fifth individuals from the right with heavier bills and the individual sitting on the beach.Photo: A. C. Lees.
Roseate Tern.Four encounters from the municipalities of Salinópolis and Maracanã provide the first records of this regionally-threatened species for the state of Pará.Three banded adults were photographed with Rynchops niger and Phaetusa simplex on 6 May 2011 as they rested on sand bars in the estuary at Praia da Corvina, Salinópolis (ACL, NGM; WA #345567, 345565).These individuals were fitted with both standard metal bands and colored, lettered 'field readable' bands.Although it was impossible to read the numbers, based on band colors they likely originated from one of four colonies in the northeastern United States: Great Gull Island in New York State, Bird Island and Ram Island in Massachusetts, or Falkners Island in Connecticut (H.Hays, personal communication).A transitional-plumaged adult with metal bands was photographed with 350 S. hirundo at the Praia da Corvina on 14 October 2011 (ACL, NGM; WA #622132) and two SY individuals were photographed with eight S. hirundo at the same site on 1 February 2013 (ACL and P. Cormons; WA #879618).Six individuals (one adult and five SY birds) were photographed at Praia do Crispim on 25 May 2013 (ACL, NGM, IT; Figure List of 323 species recorded from the Salgado Paraense region (Pará, Brazil).Taxonomy and nomenclature follows CBRO (2014):